<story><title>Google bans ZeroHedge and The Federalist from its ad platform</title><url>https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/16/google-bans-zerohedge-and-the-federalist-from-its-ad-platform.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>motohagiography</author><text>Reading into the details, the rationale was because Zerohedge allegedly failed to manage their comment section to Google&amp;#x27;s standards for what other companies do. In a parliamentary system, if you want to know what a government is doing, you listen to the opposition. They are almost always a bunch of clowns slinging mud, but when it sticks, they are miles ahead of the courtiers who populate the press gallery and newsrooms. ZH is one of the fastest news reaction sites on the web, with no pretense of objectivity other than as a reliable opposition party to the sanctimonious tone that has come to characterize the recent mainstream.&lt;p&gt;I haven&amp;#x27;t seen that comment section in years, but it was so terrible it looked like people trying to plant things in it to discredit the site. ZH itself has always been farcically provocative, and at least %90 useless, but when they get it right, they really get it right. They are also to financial literacy for younger generations what punk was to music. This reflects more on Google (and previously, Twitter) and whoever else piles on than it does on ZH.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>downerending</author><text>I read ZH pretty regularly.  It carries a wide variety of opinions, and they often have the scoop many hours before any MSM.&lt;p&gt;Yes, the comment section is useless.  They don&amp;#x27;t do any real moderation, and it&amp;#x27;s filled with, well, a lot of inappropriate material.  So, I don&amp;#x27;t read the comments.  (They don&amp;#x27;t even show by default.)&lt;p&gt;Is this &lt;i&gt;really&lt;/i&gt; a good reason to &amp;quot;cancel&amp;quot; the site, though?  Yeah, unmoderated free speech isn&amp;#x27;t pretty, but how much do you really hate it?</text></comment>
<story><title>Google bans ZeroHedge and The Federalist from its ad platform</title><url>https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/16/google-bans-zerohedge-and-the-federalist-from-its-ad-platform.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>motohagiography</author><text>Reading into the details, the rationale was because Zerohedge allegedly failed to manage their comment section to Google&amp;#x27;s standards for what other companies do. In a parliamentary system, if you want to know what a government is doing, you listen to the opposition. They are almost always a bunch of clowns slinging mud, but when it sticks, they are miles ahead of the courtiers who populate the press gallery and newsrooms. ZH is one of the fastest news reaction sites on the web, with no pretense of objectivity other than as a reliable opposition party to the sanctimonious tone that has come to characterize the recent mainstream.&lt;p&gt;I haven&amp;#x27;t seen that comment section in years, but it was so terrible it looked like people trying to plant things in it to discredit the site. ZH itself has always been farcically provocative, and at least %90 useless, but when they get it right, they really get it right. They are also to financial literacy for younger generations what punk was to music. This reflects more on Google (and previously, Twitter) and whoever else piles on than it does on ZH.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mercer</author><text>I got &amp;#x27;into&amp;#x27; ZH during the great recession and when things settled down I kind of forgot about it. But I was left with the impression of, as you say, a &amp;#x27;punk&amp;#x27;-ish site that generally was more direct and even correct than most of the mainstream media.&lt;p&gt;I vividly remember being obsessed with the news and reading MSM articles that would basically just quote Merkel or who the fuck else saying &amp;lt;x&amp;gt;, where ZH said &amp;lt;x&amp;gt; is stupid and wrong, and sure enough a few days later even Merkel (or who the fuck else) would backtrack on or directly contradict &amp;lt;x&amp;gt;.&lt;p&gt;A while ago I checked out ZH again out of curiosity (or maybe some nostalgia because I was once again in &amp;#x27;read all the news&amp;#x27; mode), and I would definitely not consider it a good source of news. And thankfully I&amp;#x27;ve found better approaches to get an idea of what&amp;#x27;s going on.&lt;p&gt;But your comment reminded me of a time in my life where I started &amp;#x27;properly&amp;#x27; getting interested in current affairs and politics and whatnot, and the role ZH played in all that.</text></comment>