Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sues Google for ad censorship

Enlarge / Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). (credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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.

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