© Wilfredo Lee/AP PhotoRep. Tulsi Gabbard answers a question during the first Democratic debate.
Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii who has called for the breakup of big tech companies, was among the top search topics on Google during and after the debate. Gabbard's campaign decided after the debate that "now is the time we can get our message out there by buying search ads,'' said attorney Brian Dunne, who is representing Gabbard. But "just as her Google traffic was spiking, her Google ad account was taken offline,'' he said.
Google told the campaign the account was suspended "for violations of billing practices" and advertising practices, Dunne said. But Dunne said there was no change of banks or financial issue with the campaign's account. And when asked by the campaign about the validity of the suspension, the company then told the campaign there was "a violation of the terms of service.''
In a statement, a Google spokeswoman said the account suspension was brief and triggered automatically.
"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," Google spokeswoman Riva Sciuto 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."
With the Gabbard campaign's Google advertising account suspended, it "had no possibility of putting up Google ads," Dunne said. "They had no ability to really speak to the people who wanted to hear from her'' on Google's platform, he said.
"To this day,'' the campaign alleges in the lawsuit, "Google has not provided a straight answer" for the suspension.
Gabbard has been an open critic of the tech industry. She rolled out her candidacy, in part, by warning against "big tech companies who take away our civil liberties and freedoms in the name of national security and corporate greed." She has also voiced support for net neutrality, considering it a "cornerstone of our democracy." In an interview on Joe Rogan's podcast, she criticized Facebook for banning some users on the platform.
But Gabbard received some encouragement from the tech industry in her long-shot presidential bid: Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, donated the maximum $5,600 to Gabbard after the first Democratic debate.
Dunne suggested the suspension could have been retaliation for Gabbard's policy position toward tech companies, though other candidates who want to break up Google, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have not alleged problems with their campaign advertising on Google.
"You have a candidate who's been outwardly adverse towards Google, and is not necessarily seen as a champion of their favorite policy interests, who was reaching never before seen popularity," Dunne said. "The timing is too coincidental."
"Since at least June 2019, Google has used its control over online political speech to silence Tulsi Gabbard, a candidate millions of Americans want to hear from," the campaign alleges in the lawsuit. "With this lawsuit, Tulsi seeks to stop Google from further intermeddling in the 2020 United States Presidential Election."
The lawsuit from the Gabbard campaign comes as the Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation into major tech and social media companies like Google, Apple and Facebook. The investigation will also address complaints that those companies have monopolized and overly dominated internet search engines and apps as well as social media platforms and retail services.
Comment: See also: