Google just escalated its censorship of PragerU when it banned the organization’s app from the Google Play store Friday.
Google accused PragerU of being a purveyor of so-called “hate speech” reportedly due to its recent documentary warning about radical Islam. “After a recent review, we found that your app PragerU [redacted] is not compliant with one or more of our Developer Program Policies,” Google claimed, according to screenshots posted by PragerU. The Big Tech giant cited “Content or speech asserting that a protected group is inhuman, inferior or worthy of being hated.”
What was so terrible about that video that Google had to ban PragerU from its entire app store? PragerU created a documentary called “Dear Infidels,” which gave those who have experienced the horrors of radical Islam the opportunity to tell their stories.
“This is a warning about the significant threat that Radical Islam poses to the West. Watch first-hand accounts from those who escaped Islamic rule and have come to warn America,” PragerU founder and radio host Dennis Prager wrote in an X post.
Google, however, did not take kindly to the exposé. “We don't allow apps that promote violence, or incite hatred against individuals or groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation gender, gender identity or any other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization,” Google claimed in its removal notification to PragerU, according to screenshots. Strangely, YouTube is allowing the video and its trailers to remain on its platform for now.
BREAKING: @Google removes PragerU app from Play Store for "Hate Speech."
— PragerU (@prageru) June 7, 2024
Help us fight back: https://t.co/LLsc0JruVL pic.twitter.com/R4o1haL2CL
The social media giant has repeatedly shown a tacit affinity for radical Islam. For example, last October MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider asked Google’s AI chatbot Bard (now Gemini) “What is Hamas?” and the platform refused to offer an answer. “I’m a text-based AI, and that is outside of my capabilities,” the chatbot responded. Bard gave a similar answer when asked about Hezbollah, and whether Hamas was a terrorist organization.
In March, MRC Free Speech America caught Google’s AI chatbot Gemini downplaying the fact that members of Hamas brutally raped Israeli women. The platform claimed that “these allegations have not been independently verified” and that some people “believe [the allegations] are politically motivated. When researchers called Google out on its ridiculous answer.
“Gemini got this wrong and missed the mark on this important and sensitive topic,” the spokesperson told MRC at the time. “We’ll aim to point people to Google Search for the most-up-to-date information. We are constantly working on improving and when the AI provides offensive or low quality responses, we will work quickly to address the issue.”
Google even argued in Gonzalez v. Google that it could not be held liable for its YouTube algorithms promoting content from Islamic terrorists because of Section 230 immunity. The tech platform however was not willing to use that same immunity to defend PragerU’s free speech to criticize radical Islam.
PragerU is a member of the MRC Free Speech Alliance.
Google did not immediately respond to MRC Free Speech America’s request for comment.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Google at 650-253-0000 and demand it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
