Youtube removed "related content" videos section for official Scientology material. This censors critique videos and breaches the principle that Google was founded on:
- To offer a search engine in the academic domain, where ranking is not decided by advertisers, but by link-weighted popularity.
As a comparison: A mobile phone manufacturer pays Google to remove the "related videos" for their videos, because one of those related videos talks about the dangers of driving while using a mobile phone.
Youtube embeds content hosted by Scientology on their Youtube profile page. This gives the Office of Special Affairs the IP (personal information) in their visitor logs. Scientology also places a cookie while surfing on the Youtube site. No confirmation is asked.
Scientology gets around the "all comments vs. no comments at all" by removing any negative or critical comment, and only allowing positive and astroturfing comments.
Even though religious advertisements used to be against their policy, they have since then taken money from religious institutes.
Advertisements are against Adwords TOS, when:
- Sites with content that incites or promotes hatred against a group or individuals.
- Content that encourages others to believe that a group or individual is inhuman or inferior
Scientology.org has content that promotes hatred against medical professionals. They vilify doctors for prescribing drugs for ADD. Factual quality of the content is low, while impact on the life of someone who believes all information there is high.
There is freedom of speech, and there is suiting advertisers. Google really needs to refind their balance. And be consistent in enforcing the rules, for instance their link-farm makes blackhat SEO's pale.