Washington: Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sued Google on Thursday. She argued that the search giant illegally blocked her from buying ads on Google's platform for several hours on June 28—two days after she appeared in the first Democratic primary debate. "Google plays favorites, with no warning, no transparency, and no accountability," Gabbard wrote in her lawsuit. "Google's arbitrary and capricious treatment of Gabbard's campaign should raise concerns for policymakers everywhere about the company's ability to use its dominance to impact political discourse."
Google says the brief suspension was triggered by the company's automated anti-fraud algorithms. "We have automated systems that flag unusual activity on all advertiser accounts—including large spending changes—in order to prevent fraud and protect our customers," a Google spokesperson said. "In this case, our system triggered a suspension and the account was reinstated shortly thereafter. We are proud to offer ad products that help campaigns connect directly with voters, and we do so without bias toward any party or political ideology." Meanwhile, legal experts panned the complaint.
The lawsuit "has so many problems it's hard to know where to begin," argues attorney and writer Gabriel Malor. Gabbard's lawsuit also doesn't impress Eric Goldman, a legal scholar at Santa Clara University. He described the lawsuit as "terrible" and argued that there was "a PR aspect to the filing." The complaint often reads like a campaign white paper In recent months, Democratic presidential hopefuls have competed to be the most anti-Google candidate. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has called for breaking up Google—a position shared by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Gabbard has also endorsed Warren's position, and suing Google is a way for her to underscore that view. Conventional legal complaints focus narrowly on the facts necessary to prove the plaintiff's argument—in this case that blocking Gabbard's ads broke the law. By contrast, Gabbard's complaint reads in places like a campaign white paper.
