A YouTube video promotion for the Alaska State Troopers went viral, after it became known that the video had been banned from the YouTube ad program because it was “too political.”
To be clear, Google/YouTube allow the video to be aired, but simply will not allow it to be promoted.
Google, which owns YouTube, notified the Department of Public Safety late last week that it was all a misunderstanding. There had been a lot of public blowback over the so-called “misunderstanding.”
So the Department thought its pay-per-click recruitment ad would get accepted. Only it didn’t, even after multiple inquiries.
“The Alaska State Trooper recruitment ad featuring Gov. Dunleavy is still in rejection status by Google despite the multiple appeals the DPS filed,” the department wrote on Facebook. “The DPS would appreciate if the tech-giant could resolve the ‘misunderstanding’, as they have public stated, so we can continue our efforts in recruiting quality applicants to provide public safety services to Alaskans.”
In the recruitment ad, Governor Dunleavy appears as a cameo at the end to say, “I support law enforcement because our public safety depends upon it. If you are looking for a change, think about coming to Alaska. We’d love to have you.”
That was the statement deemed too political for Google, which owns YouTube.
“This statement is not political,” said Governor Mike Dunleavy. “It is an encouragement to law enforcement officers across the United States to consider serving Americans in Alaska that value public safety and a call for more Alaska State Troopers so we can continue to combat the high rates of domestic violence, sexual assaults and other criminal acts that threaten a peaceful way of life.”
“At a time of extreme unrest in our country, having a platform like Google make a decision that a statement of support for law enforcement should be censored is wholly unacceptable,” said Commissioner Amanda Price. “This effort from Google to hinder the efforts of the Alaska State Troopers to recruit qualified applicants to provide essential services puts Alaskans at risk.”
The video has been viewed on the Must Read Alaska YouTube channel more than 12,500 times since we first found out about the problems the Alaska State Troopers were having with Google/YouTube.
