Google Shopping to censor all gun-related items

[Thernlund]

From TFB...

Google Shopping Censors All Gun, Ammo & Accessories Results

Google sent out an email to Google Adwords customers saying that they are going to pull all Google Shopping results for guns, ammunition, gun optics and gun accessories (Shopping results, not general search results).

HamLund Tactical received this email and posted it on 68forums.com (emphasis added) ...

    Dear Merchant,

    We're writing to let you know about some upcoming changes to the product listings you submit to Google. As we recently announced, we are starting to transition our shopping experience to a commercial model that builds on Product Listing Ads. This new shopping experience is called Google Shopping. As part of this transition, we'll begin to enforce a set of new policies for Google Shopping in the coming weeks. A new list of the allowed, restricted, and prohibited products on Google Shopping is available on our new policy page - http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/ApI7UWRj6OCZpd.

    Based on a review of the products you're currently submitting, it appears that some of the content in your Merchant Center account, HamLund Tactical, will be affected by these policy changes. In particular we found that your products may violate the following policies:

    Weapons

    When we make this change, Google will disapprove all of the products identified as being in violation of policies. We ask that you make any necessary changes to your feeds and/or site to comply, so that your products can continue to appear on Google Shopping.

    To help you through this new set of policies and how to comply with them, we would like to give you some specific suggestions regarding the changes needed to keep your offers running on Google Shopping.

    Weapons

    As highlighted on our new policy page http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/ApI7UWRj6OCZpd, in order to comply with the Google Shopping policies you need to comply first with the AdWords policies http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/StQ08jAzM4fVtG. We do not allow the promotion or sale of weapons and any related products such as ammunitions or accessory kits on Google Shopping. In order to comply with our new policies, please remove any weapon-related products from your data feed and then re-submit your feed in the Merchant Center. For more information on this policy please visit http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/GbBNIGHOribLzf.

    We're constantly reviewing our policies, and updating them when necessary, to ensure we're offering the best experience possible to our users. We've identified a set of policy principles to govern our policy efforts on Google Shopping in the U.S. These principles are:

    1) Google Shopping should provide a positive experience to users. Showing users the right products at the right time can truly enhance a user's experience. When people trust us to deliver them to a destination that's relevant, original, and easy to navigate this creates a positive online experience to the benefit of both users and merchants.

    2 ) Google Shopping should be safe for all users. User safety is everyone's business, and we can't do business with those who don't agree. Scams, phishing, viruses, and other malicious activities on the Internet damage the value of the Internet for everyone. Trying to get around policies or "game the system" is unfair to our users, and we can't allow that.

    3) Google Shopping should comply with local laws and regulations. Many products and services are regulated by law, which can vary from country to country. All advertising, as well as the products and services being advertised, must clearly comply with all applicable laws and regulations. For the most part, our policies aren't designed to describe every law in every country. All advertisers bear their own responsibility for understanding the laws applicable to their business. Our policies are often more restrictive than the law, because we need to be sure we can offer services that are legal and safe for all users.

    4) Google Shopping should be compatible with Google's brand decisions. Google Shopping must be compatible with company brand decisions. Our company has a strong culture and values, and we've chosen not to allow ads that promote products and services that are incompatible with these values. In addition, like all companies, Google sometimes makes decisions based on technical limitations, resource constraints, or requirements from our business partners. Our policies reflect these realities.

    We've given much thought to our stance on this content, as well as the potential effect our policy decision could have on our Merchants, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

    Sincerely,

    The Google Shopping Team

    © 2012 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Merchant Center account.

This is a pity. I liked using Google Shopping to compare prices on gun-related products. Google now has a worse policy than ebay, which at least allows accessories. Shame on you Google.

UPDATE: I published this post a few hours ago and the search "5.56mm ammo" (as seen in the screenshot above) worked in Google Shopping. I now get "5.56mm ammo - did not match any shopping results". It may still be working for some people, depending on which Google servers you are hitting.

SOURCE:  http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/06/28/google-shopping-to-censor-all-gun-ammo-accessories-results/

That's a shame.  I use Google Shopping for a lot of gun-related stuff.  They've always blocked guns on some level, but you could still compare prices on ammo and accessories.  Not any more I guess.

<sigh>   

There's always Bing I guess, which as of this writing is still producing gun-related shopping results.


-T.

[Amplifiedsoul]

That sucks.

[428CJ]

That sucks.

SURE IS!

[GTGallop]

Guck Foogle

[ezdays]

Just wondering, but would it be PC if you called a gun a, "hunting device" rather than a "weapon"?

[samnev]

Guck Foogle

+1

[tknoll]

Guck Foogle

+1

+ another 1 

[theultimatehic]

BOOOO!!!!

[GTGallop]

Guns are not only legal, they are protected by the constitution and in some towns (in Wyoming) they are required.

Just for kicks, I went to Google Shopping and looked for three things that aren't legal.
1. Gay Marriage - Yup!  I don't believe any state is currently allowing or recognizing gay marriage, but items associated with that topic are not censored
2. Marijuana Accessories - Yup!  Only legal medically in a few states and guess what? TONS of stuff.  Some of it questionable in nature.
3. Rape Porn - YUP!  Google has you covered there too.

So if you get all stoned on pot and want to gay rape a young bride/groom to be, Google has your back.  But if you want to purchase shooting accessories from one legal vendor to a legal recipient guess what - You are S.O.L., my friend.

THANKS GOOGLE!

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go clear my browser history. 

[Gunslinger808]

I thought it was only going to affect the Google "Shopping" option, but that regular Google searches would still work.

[GTGallop]

I was in the shopping section.

[samnev]

Guck Foogle

+1

+ another 1 

+2 I already switched over to Bing. I will have to see how Bing works out. So far so good.

[Thernlund]

This was on TFB awhile back...

Google Relents, Gun & Ammo Shopping Results Are Back

UPDATE: See bottom of post.

Many of you emailed Google, tweeted and "liked" (8,600 likes) the post I wrote about Google censoring shopping results for guns and ammo. It worked! Google appears to have relented and gun and ammo results are back in the Google.

I am pleased that Google realized that a sport, hobby and way-of-life which tens of millions of children and adults actively participate is not "harmful" to include in the Google Shopping index. If people are searching for "5.56mm ammunition", they want to see "5.56mm ammunition", removing the ability to compare prices of 5.56mm ammunition is just silly.

I was beginning to wonder where it would end. Were they planning on banning knives, handcuffs, ninja stars, replica swords? What about banning shooting books in the Google Books index?

UPDATE: It was definitely working for me a few hours ago, but now when I search I am not getting the same results. A reader from Canada reported that it is working for him. If I search for "rifle scope" in Google Shopping I get no results, but if I search in the main Google engine I get some broken results.

SOURCE:  http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/07/06/google-relents-gun-ammo-shopping-results-are-back/

I'm not sure what that means.  I do know that Google is not above actively tinkering with search result to further an end.  When they were in China they would take down results that were complained about by the gov't censor and then quietly put them back up again a few days later.

So really, who know?   


-T.

[ccapehart1017]

 its because the umpteen million  gunowners etc were about to make metacrawler the dominant search engine on the net   www.metacrawler.com
thats right LARRY PAGE you do what we say

[samnev]

Guck Foogle

+1