A few of us have heard the anecdote about the news site that reported a story about some poor person who had been hacked apart, body packed into a suitcase, only to have Google AdSense serve a distasteful ad for Samsonite luggage next to the article. AdSense works in mysterious ways. And if not mysterious, unpredictable. Sometimes its technology associates keywords placed by advertisers and keywords placed by AdSense participants, like VL, correctly. When that happens, I think it’s just luck. In our case, we are not getting very lucky.

Due to the fact that many of our stories have to do with hot-button topics like immigration, AdSense is serving on VL, pretty consistently, racist and xenophobic ads placed by anti-immigrant organizations and other hate groups. This brings to light the topic of how radical right wing groups are using Google and other technology to advance their initiatives. With the appearance of the Minutemen in mainstream media, it’s evident that we’re not talking about a couple of mullet-sporting weirdos in camouflage ducking inside log cabins with rifles at the ready.

It’s evident that we’re not talking about a couple of mullet-sporting weirdos in camouflage ducking inside log cabins with rifles at the ready

Liberals have been naive in underestimating these people for so long. Sure, buying ads on AdSense for your racist organization is not rocket science, but it’s a smart move on their part. Not only are they raising visibility in their own circles, but in ours as well. Right here on our blog.

We aren’t the first to have this problem. For instance, it’s quite common for gay sites to be riddled with homophobic ads from AdSense. Some are disguised as ads for personals sites, when in reality they are church sites that promise the possibility of “curing” one’s homosexuality. Chances are, the fact that the words “homosexual” and “gay” are in this post we’ll see some of those, so you can judge for yourself.

Hate is old — but apparently not old-fashioned. Technology is ever-changing, and hate mongers will find ways to get their point across. I can say from personal experience that when the problem comes to their attention, Google does try to eliminate these ads from a (big) clients account. And to be fair, AdSense technology has little ability, short of a manual read of the site, to be able to ascertain the politics of VL editors. The fact remains, however, that they are out to make money, and beyond the painfully blatant (sometimes you don’t know what an ad is all about until you click through) hate ad, they readily accept these placements.

In the meantime, VL is doing its best to filter these ads out on our end. Please contact us if you see objectionable advertising on our site.