Google and YouTube harm Black people—from creators to users—when they do not address the racial bias issues in their services and technology.

John,

Google and its subsidiary YouTube are looking to move into Web3—a buzzword for the next evolution of the internet.1 However, they have yet to address the racial bias issues in their current services and technology. In response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, Google issued a statement in support of Black lives, and YouTube pledged millions of dollars to support Black creators.2,3 Their actions since then paint a different story. 

  • Google has blocked companies from using racial justice terms like “Black Lives Matter” to place advertisements on related video content—a policy that blocks financial sustainability for Black creators and the creators who cover the movement.4 
  • At the same time, Google actively allowed advertisers to search and place their content on tens of millions of videos tagged with white nationalist terms like “White Power” and “White Lives Matter.”5 
  • Despite kicking Steve Bannon, indicted former adviser to Donald Trump, off YouTube, Google did not remove Bannon's War Room website—which spreads Trump propaganda—from its network. Therefore, Bannon can still make money from the other Google Ads services on his website.6

Problems like these can begin to change by conducting an independent racial equity audit. Such an investigation would provide Google with specific areas to eliminate discrimination in its products and workplaces.

TELL GOOGLE A RACIAL EQUITY AUDIT IS LONG OVERDUE

A racial equity audit is necessary for a Big Tech corporation like Google, which blurs the line between advertiser and search engine. Those who use Google for its advertising services are looking for visibility and engagement with their ads; those who use Google as a search engine may assume the results for their search are objective. Google’s algorithms encode racial biases in its search results and shape our online presence without our control, leading to real-world harm. Google’s technology does not center racial justice; that’s clear from their history of returning hypersexualized and pornographic results and advertisements for a Google Images search for “Black girls” and Google Photos tagging Black people as gorillas on its platform.7,8 

Google’s refusal to listen to the needs of Black people online leads to violence. We cannot forget the lives of the nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina who were murdered in 2015 by a white supremacist, Dylann Roof. Roof’s white supremacist beliefs were shaped by Google. Google suggested white supremacist content in Roof’s results for his search on “black on white crime” after learning about Trayvon Martin’s murder, leading Roof down a rabbit hole of white supremacy until he eventually murdered nine Black people.9 Google must conduct a racial equity audit to truly begin to combat the racist violence inspired by its technology.

A better future is possible—a future that uplifts Black people. Because of support from Color Of Change members like you, John, we have forced Facebook to undergo a civil rights audit, disclose the results, and publish their progress. We can do that with Google, too. When we hold tech companies accountable for their products and practices that harm Black people, we will have real opportunities to thrive. 

Join us in calling on Google to go #BeyondTheStatement

Until justice is real, 
—The Color Of Change Team

References: 

  1. Kali Hays, “Google and YouTube are delving into Web3 with new experts in NFTs, crypto and blockchain technology,” Business Insider, February 15, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/348976?t=7&akid=53020%2E4731121%2EkTZ0-4.
  2. “Standing with the Black Community,” Sundair Pichai, Blog.Google.com, June 3, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/300671?t=9&akid=53020%2E4731121%2EkTZ0-4.
  3. “Susan Wojcicki: My mid-year update to the YouTube community,” Susan Wojcicki, Blog.YouTube.com, June 11, 2020,  https://act.colorofchange.org/go/349137?t=11&akid=53020%2E4731121%2EkTZ0-4.
  4. Leon Yin and Aaron Sankin, “Google blocks advertisers from targeting Black Lives Matter YouTube videos,” The Markup, April 9, 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/348974?t=13&akid=53020%2E4731121%2EkTZ0-4.
  5. Ibid.
  6. Craig Silverman and Isaac Arnsdorf, “How Steve Bannon Has Exploited Google Ads to Monetize Extremism,” ProPublica, November 29, 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/348975?t=15&akid=53020%2E4731121%2EkTZ0-4.
  7. Safiya Umoja Noble, “The Enduring Anti-Black Racism of Google Search,” OneZero, July 14, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/349138?t=17&akid=53020%2E4731121%2EkTZ0-4.
  8. James Vincent, “Google ‘fixed’ its racist algorithm by removing gorillas from its image-labeling tech,” The Verge, January 12, 2018,  https://act.colorofchange.org/go/349139?t=19&akid=53020%2E4731121%2EkTZ0-4.
  9. Rebecca Hersher, “What happened when Dylann Roof asked Google for information about race?” NPR, January 10, 2017, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/349140?t=21&akid=53020%2E4731121%2EkTZ0-4.