A political ad supporting Donald Trump was banned by Google but later reinstated after backlash.
The ad featured a black voter speaking to a Biden campaign volunteer on the phone, expressing frustration at rising costs of living and that the administration was providing assistance to undocumented immigrants instead of struggling Americans like himself.
“Ok, but Biden is helping pay rent for newcomers to America from around the world,” the Biden campaign volunteer asked.
“You mean illegal immigrants?” a voter said. “I’m struggling to pay my bills but Biden’s paying rent for illegals? They get handouts and I’m paying for it.”
The ad was targeting rural voters and spent over $15,000 before being removed by Google for an alleged “privacy violation,” which was unclear.
Conservative figures criticized Google for censorship, claiming the real reason was because the ad was effective for Trump.
After widespread condemnation, Google reversed course and allowed the pro-Trump super PAC to re-upload the ads.
“Google has taken down this Trump ad on the pretext of violating its guidelines. The real reason of course is because it’s pretty effective,” conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza wrote. “Let’s teach Google a lesson by sharing this widely!”
“Google is censoring this pro-Trump ad to protect Biden,” Donald Trump Jr. said. “Let’s make it go viral.”
