In her suit against Google, the Hawaii congresswoman presented documentation and evidence of Google’s overall political leanings in addition to recordings of employees complaining about Trump’s election in 2016; emails of Google attempting to block Breitbart News, a conservative outlet, from receiving ad revenue were also included.
Ultimately, Gabbard stated that Google’s suspension of her advertisement account served as a violation of her free speech rights. Moreover, the 2020 Democrat pointed out the vast power of Google, stating that the company has enough weight to completely derail a presidential contender if they so choose.
A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit in which Tulsi Gabbard accused Google of temporarily suspending her presidential campaign ads due to political bias — noting that the online search giant is not a government entity bound by the First Amendment. https://t.co/9Brc0qGSMg
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) March 4, 2020
Despite the aforementioned points, California Judge Stephen Wilson ultimately honored Google’s appeal to scrap Gabbard’s suit. In the end, Wilson determined that the manner in which the tech company chooses to operate is not “in any way equivalent to a governmental regulation of an election.”
It’s also worth noting that Google reinstated Gabbard’s advertisement account after six hours of termination. The tech company is chalking up the temporary suspension to an automated system error.
