Politics in motion

Google has been tossed headlong into battle between Republican lawmakers and activist group MoveOn.org, reports Fox News.

The disagreement came about when the campaign for Susan Collins, the Republican Senator from Maine, bought keyword ads on Google attacking MoveOn. Days after the ads were bought, Google informed the group that its keyword campaign would be withdrawn.

Google advertising policy allows copyright holders to request removal of ads containing its copyrighted terms in a disparaging or negative context.

The Collins campaign perceives the decision as political and unfair. They observed that MoveOn was able to run ads on television that criticized politicians, but in a politician's attempt to respond, her voice was silenced.

That the MoveOn ads appeared on television and were not syndicated by Google does not factor into the campaigners' argument.
Google denies that political factors are in play, contending it was simply following its established policy.