The search engine is being accused by the gun dealer of favoring porn over the federally legal sale of guns on the Internet, and for promoting adult content that can be harmful to children.
The arms dealer, Rick Millo, owner of Valley Firearms, was completely unaware of Google's policy against gun ads and favoritism of porn when he subscribed to the Google AdWords service, which runs paid advertisements for businesses alongside search results that are relevant to the advertisement's keywords.
A Google search for words related to "porn" typically yields 95 pages of porn sites that are accompanied by paid porn-related advertisements in the right hand column. A search for guns yields many pages of search results, but none of those pages have paid ads.
Millo was incensed by the search engine when it suspended his advertisement promoting his used gun sales and auction business. According to Millo, Google was the one that provided him with the recommended keywords to promote his ad and then changed its tune completely.
Millo's ad made a brief appearance on AdWords before being pulled. The gun seller received an email from Google informing him that his ad had been suspended and that a Google policy does not permit the advertisement of websites that contain 'firearms and ammunition.'
"As noted in our advertising terms and conditions, we reserve the right to exercise editorial discretion when it comes to the advertising we accept on our site," the Google email stated. "This content is not permitted as ad text or keywords. We do not allow ads for websites that sell guns or related products."
Google further stated that it does not edit the content on its search engine, but that it reserves the right as a privately held company to determine who its advertisers are.
Millo's particular beef is that when porn advertisements are clicked through on the right side of a search page, very often the user is sent directly to hardcore porn links, which Millo contends could be harmful to kids. According to Millo, his gun business is federally approved, one hundred percent legal, and provides "law abiding products" for the general public.
"They [Google] are protecting the First Amendment by protecting porn companies, but when it comes to guns, they are desecrating the Second Amendment by refusing to feature gun ads," Millo told XBiz. "They obviously don't feel that pornography is a bad thing, but guns are."
"What's to keep a fourteen-year-old from seeing hardcore porn linked to those ads?" Millo asked XBiz. "Minors are breaking the law by clicking on those porn sites and Google is doing nothing to control it."
Millo has since turned his advertising needs to Overture, an affiliate search engine belonging to Yahoo!, although he is still waiting to hear whether Overture's advertising policies are gun-friendly.
"We sell a legitimate legal product to adults and Google's mentality is discriminating against an entire industry," Millo added.
Google spokesperson David Krane was not available to speak with XBiz, although he submitted this statement on behalf of his company: "Google believes strongly in freedom of expression and therefore offers broad access to content across the web. The decisions we make concerning advertising in no way affect the objective search results we deliver. Google's search results will continue to display information about guns and related products."
