Google announced back in May that Google Product Search will be replaced by Google Shopping,
meaning a number of changes would be on the horizon for Google’s
dedicated corner for online merchants. However, Google recently sent a
letter to merchants of firearms and weapons that have listings on Google
Shopping telling them that the sale of weapons will not be permitted
through Google. “We do not allow the promotion or sale of weapons and
any related products such as ammunitions or accessory kits on Google
Shopping,” the Google Shopping Team wrote. “In order to comply with our
new policies, please remove any weapon-related products from your data
feed and then re-submit your feed in the Merchant Center.”
Do you feel that Google is entitled to make these sorts of
decisions and prohibit the sale of certain items on Google Shopping? Who
should dictate what’s acceptable and unacceptable to sell on the site? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Naturally, proponents of the 2nd Amendment are up in arms (hah) about
Google’s decision to limit or prohibit the sale of firearms through its
Shopping site. A petition has been posted on change.com that implores Google to “not interfere with our 2nd amendment rights…” and so far has collected over 300 signatures.
In light of Google’s announcement, searching for weapon-related terms
on Google Shopping reflects this policy as you will no longer get any
results from most of those searches.
For example, a search for “bullets”:
Or “ammo”:
While specific terms related to firearms produce exactly zero
results, strangely, a generic search of “guns” gave me millions of
results (and these were pretty serious guns, too):
Additionally, I received some more shopping results when I searched for knives, arrows, crossbows, grenades (that do simulated explosions) (which actually included grenade launchers in the results, as well!), and uzi.
Even searching for the plainly generic “weapons” gave me a few gun
sights and at least one gun. So it doesn’t look like Google has exactly
put a wholesale ban on the sale of firearms or firearm-related
accessories (or other explosive stuff) – at least for now. Who knows if
these results will get cleaned up so as to not offer any sorts of
weaponry as the full implementation of Google Shopping takes place this
fall, or if merchants’ weapon wares will be forcibly removed by Google
should the sellers not comply.
As an aside, Google’s limitation on what kind of weapons you can buy
isn’t limited to things you shoot. A search for non-lethal weapons like
“stun gun” returned zero results, which makes this all the more
confusing. To see the full list of what weapons are prohibited from
promotion and which are acceptable, take a look at Google’s Advertising Policies, which are allegedly the guidelines being used for Google Shopping now.
While gun enthusiasts will, and perhaps logically so, take umbrage to
Google’s removal of all weaponry listings on Google Shopping, Google
isn’t really beholden to any consumer expectations. It’s a corporate
business that makes whatever decisions it wants and we the consumers are
simply using it by choice. Google is no more required to allow a space
for merchants of bullets or shotguns to sell their products on Google
Shopping than is a flea market required to allow anybody to set up a
table and sell baseball cards if those flea market owners (for whatever
reason) don’t agree with the values of baseball. If the private market
you’re trying to use to promote your business doesn’t like you, you have
little choice but go somewhere else.
More, Google isn’t prohibiting the search listings
of weapons; this only (so far as I know) applies to Google Shopping.
It’s still just as easy to go to google.com and search for “9mm ammo” and – presto – find many listings of websites that are selling this particular ammunition.
However, I anticipate that not being able to search and purchase
weapons on Google Search will affect merchants more than consumers. This
will relegate sellers to compete among general Google search rankings
instead of being able to minimize the field of competition at Google
Shopping. As Google says itself on the Google Shopping (née Product Search) page,
“Product Search connects your products to the shoppers searching for
them, helping you drive traffic and sales to your store.” If anything,
especially if you’re an exclusively online vendor of guns or other
weapons, I’d imagine that the diminished site traffic to a business’
page would be more immediately incendiary than Google Search simply no
longer allowing the commercial sale of weapons. If anybody wanted to
make some kind of legal case about this issue, I tend to think that a
more convincing argument could be made that Google Shopping’s new policy
harms small businesses than it diminishes citizens’ right to bear arms.
In the end, though, the plausibility of taking this charge to court
doesn’t seem favorable because, as mentioned, this is Google’s world and
we just live in it. Google was asked for comment regarding the policy
change to Google Shopping and the subsequent petition of the decision
but it has yet to reply as of this time.
For what it’s worth, Bing Shopping
returned beaucoup results for “ammo” (and “9mm ammo”), “bullets,” and
“shotgun.” Maybe Bing and Microsoft should start touting their
gun-friendly search results among the NRA so as to gain a little more on
Google’s lead in search?
Is this more of a free market issue or a 2nd Amendment issue?
If you’re an online merchant that will be affected by Google Shopping’s
policy change, do you plan to try selling your products elsewhere (like
Bing or eBay)? Do you think this is a bad sign for business owners who
use Google Shopping? Please share your reactions below.
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