NBC News reporter Adele-Momoko Fraser found herself in the middle of a controversy when her report about Google de-listing a conservative website from its advertising platform was debunked by Google’s communications team. The public praise of her own article, citing collaboration with a quoted source, also came under scrutiny and criticism.
NBC News published her article, which alleged Google removed The Federalist from its advertising platform. This move meant that the website would no longer receive advertising revenue from Google, which could have severe financial consequences for online websites like The Federalist. But Google’s communications team debunked Fraser’s report and said that they warned The Federalist and gave the website time to remove offensive content.
The Federalist was never demonetized.
— Google Communications (@Google_Comms) June 16, 2020
Google tweeted, “The Federalist was never demonetized… We worked with them to address issues on their site related to the comments section.” Fraser blamed Google for her reporting error and claimed Google “backtracked” its decision to de-list The Federalist.
Google’s policy prohibits websites that use its advertising platform from engaging in “derogatory content that promotes hatred, intolerance, violence or discrimination based on race from monetizing.” The Federalist cooperated with Google and removed offensive comments from its website, which meant that the website would not be removed from Google’s advertising platform.
Fraser’s tweet, which promoted her article, also praised one of her sources in the article. She wrote, “Thanks to @SFFFakeNews and @CCDHate for their hard work and collaboration!” Fraser attempted to clarify her tweet and said that “we obtained this research exclusively from @SFFakeNews but we did not collaborate on the research itself.”
NEW — from @NBC_VC. Thanks to @SFFakeNews and @CCDHate for their hard work and collaboration! https://t.co/dorhdZy1t1
— Adele-Momoko Fraser (@AMFraserNBC) June 16, 2020
Also, her sources have left-wing political ties to the left-leaning Labour Party in the United Kingdom. The Center for Countering Digital Hate’s founder, Imran Ahmed, has tweeted several Labour Party-related tweets from his profile and nothing from the right-leaning Conservative Party.
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