Evidently Google is now policing the internet....

[prosperent brian]

Discuss...

Google Affiliate Network Policy Notification
Dear Affiliate Publisher,

We review our Advertising policies on an ongoing basis to make sure they best serve our users and under our current policy, weapons-related advertising is not allowed. Therefore we will no longer collect or pay commissions on weapons-related products through the Google Affiliate Network. We are currently working with all Advertisers who sell weapons-related products to implement this policy, which will be rolling out over the next few weeks.

Thank you,

Google Affiliate Network Service Team

[AcidRaZor]

I won't say policing the internet as much as policing what gets sold through GAN. I can understand that weapons would be dangerous to sell over the internet, especially if you cannot confirm the person's age

[prosperent brian]

The merchants that handle that sort of thing have to comply by the laws of the country they are selling in. Google has no authority to say differently IMO. Take one of our top converting merchants as an example... Brownells. We push hundreds of sales through them each week. With this policy change, you guys would see nothing for those sales (luckily, we work with them through another network).

[enzeder]

google is taking what it considers the high road on so many issues it's crazy. They have become the self imposed internet police for sure

[nite]

In essence, this:

Danni R. said... The other day Google had blocked out their own logo in support of the fight against SOPA and PIPA... censorship of the Internet. And now this????? How dare you, Google, to run your own version of censorship and control over the way web developers and designers create their websites?! Where is the creative freedom and freedom to conduct business in a way each individual sees fit in that? Someone very appropriately pointed out earlier that some users come to websites because they want to shop. They don't want to read all the blah, blah, blah about products or articles. Many webmasters run websites that offer products and/or educational leads (for schools) and to maintain a uniform layout of the site throughout their banners or products appear on top. I find this attempt to manipulate web design..., well how should I best put it, DARING, to say the least, and put it mildly.

Danni R.
Advanced Medical Assistant Custom Web Design, LLC

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogsp...49810481847642

To be fair, this response was in regards to putting a lot of ads above the fold. But the main idea pertains to censorship in general.

[enzeder]

I love that google itself is a big offender of ads above the fold. Look at search results, first thing you see is a nice big ad block above the actual search results. Look at Gmail, couldn't squeeze more ads in if you tried. Looka t their parked domain pages, nothing but ads. I hope someone with enough power to make them listen attacks them on these points.

Poster of that response above is correct, not all people want to see lots of content on pages. I know when I am comparison shopping online, all I want to see is that I am looking at the right product, and the price.