Check out this really in-depth article following up on the some of the big picture questions I raised in my post last month about the new Google AdWords policy disallowing abortion ads in over a dozen countries.
The article was written by Masum Momaya of Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) and gives a dope analysis of this truly multi-dimensional topic. Also the article explicitly mentions Feministing commentors and a lot of the points you all brought up in my first post on the subject, which is awesome and a testament to all of your thoughtfulness!
*pause to reflect on the greatness of this community*
Anyway, one major reveal from the article is that, legally and practically, "those submitting the ads, and not Google Inc., should be doing the screening for legal compliance." So there goes the theory about Google AdWords initiating the abortion policy just to abide by local laws.
Also, the article gets to what I think is the heart of the issue by exploring the various competing interests that are informing Google AdWords decision-making behind closed doors: legal, social, and financial, and more, and then asking:
"So do we want Google Inc. sorting, accrediting and ordering our information for us, ads or otherwise? And is doing so in a truly unbiased way possible for a for-profit company whose major source of revenue is dependent on advertising?"
Yeah, and I would add that reproductive health care information in particular requires special defense, because it is so often under attack as being "controversial" or "politically risky" when it is just health care for women, who, need I remind you, constitute half of this earth's population!
Anyway, before I begin to rant more about that, let me get back to the article. Overall, I agree with the article's conclusion:
"It is important for women's rights activists and social justice advocates more generally to understand the issues and limitations behind what does - and does not - show up when Googling for "abortion" or any other topic, for that matter, and continue to be on the lookout for this 'invisible' violation of women's rights."
Word.
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Anyway, one major reveal from the article is that, legally and practically, "those submitting the ads, and not Google Inc., should be doing the screening for legal compliance." So there goes the theory about Google AdWords initiating the abortion policy just to abide by local laws.
Why wouldn't Google want to avoid being a carrier for illegal ads?
It is important for women's rights activists and social justice advocates more generally to understand the issues and limitations behind what does - and does not - show up when Googling for "abortion" or any other topic
How do we determine what does not show up? Has anyone done a study comparing the top 25 results across search engines on a range of relevant topics?
I'd also be interested in seeing, upon multiple page reloads, what sorts of ads do show up across search engines for those same queries.
In the early 2000s, I googled "women," just to see what would come up. It was a bunch of mail-order bride sites and pornography. Then, I googled "children," and, I am relieved to say, a bunch of sites for childcare and information / activities that would appeal to children turned up. So, I wrote google about it. (They used to have a link to report problems with searches.) Anyway, they had a some kind of fix right away (within the day, and it was a Sunday!). Then, NOW was the first site to come up, though the sponsored links were all about objectification.
Noting the obvious: The early search engine was male-centered-- searches for "men" turned up sites that commodified women (as women or images); searches for "women" turned up the same. This is just like magazines and TV.
I would like to suggest that every once in a while, you and your friends google "women," and scroll down to the NOW link and click it. I do this every couple of months. They track each click.