Google has started allowing right-wing financial site ZeroHedge to make money off its ads again a week after banning the site for violating policies on hateful content
Jeff Chiu/AP
Google started allowing right-wing financial outlet ZeroHedge to once again run ads on its platform on June 21, a company spokesperson told Business Insider in an email.
The move came a week after Google banned ZeroHedge in mid-June for violating its policies and failing to moderate hateful content-filled comment sections.
ZeroHedge is known for its sensationalist headlines and was also kicked off of Twitter in January for publishing an article that doxxed a Chinese scientist, who it claimed without evidence was responsible for the coronavirus disease outbreak.
Twitter reinstated the site's account last month and admitted it was wrong.
Google says it began allowing ZeroHedge, a right-wing financial market site, to once again run and profit from ads on the platform on June 21, as CNBC first reported.
The search engine giant banned the financial site from running ads for violating its policies with hateful, race-related content in mid-June. It also zeroed in on another right-wing outlet, The Federalist, for the same violation.
Those two sites, according to Google, were lax in moderating their comment sections. ZeroHedge took the required steps to remove the content and implement comment moderation. A Google spokesperson told Business Insider in an email that the site's comments were indeed removed and that it began allowing ZeroHedge to run ads on its platform on June 21.
The spokesperson said the company works "with publishers to keep them aware of our monetization policies, which cover user comments on sites, and offer guidance on how to address policy violations if they wish to be reinstated. We have policies like these for many reasons, including to ensure companies advertising with us have confidence their ads aren't running against dangerous, derogatory or hateful content."
ZeroHedge first began publishing insider financial pieces around the time of the 2008 economic recession. It's garnered a reputation for its sensationalist headlines and has been described as a "far-right" and "pro-Trump" platform.
In late January, ZeroHedge was booted from Twitter after publishing an article doxxing — or releasing the name and personal information of — a Chinese scientist. The article claimed, without evidence, that the scientist created the coronavirus disease, as Buzzfeed first reported.
In mid-June, Twitter reinstated the ZeroHedge account, as Bloomberg reported. The social media firm also admitted that it was wrong to shut the account down.
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