Articles on Florida Candidate Michael Carbonara's Data Center Ties Removed from Google Search Results
Michael Carbonara, a Republican candidate for Florida's 22nd Congressional District, is connected to a data center in Dafter Township, Michigan, which is facing a nuisance lawsuit due to noise. Ahead of the primary election, a concerted effort involving fraudulent DMCA claims has suppressed articles about Carbonara's data center ties from Google search results. This
Michael Carbonara, a Republican candidate running in Florida's 22nd Congressional District, has ties to the data center industry, having previously stated, "I have built a data center." This data center, located in Dafter Township, rural Michigan, is currently embroiled in a lawsuit alleging that its noise creates a public nuisance for a nearby elementary school.
As early voting for the August 18 primary election commenced, a sophisticated and coordinated effort emerged to suppress information regarding Carbonara's data center connections. Multiple fraudulent copyright infringement claims were filed with Google by various shell entities lacking digital footprints, falsely asserting that news articles about Carbonara used copyrighted material. These claims invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law designed to protect genuine copyright holders, which search engines typically comply with to avoid liability.
According to First Amendment attorney Corey Silverstein, this constitutes "absolute censorship" and a direct assault on the democratic process, as it prevents voters from accessing critical information about a candidate. WLRN, WCMU Public Radio, and Florida Politics were among the media outlets whose articles were successfully removed from Google search results following these bogus claims. Although Google temporarily restored some articles after WLRN's inquiry, new fraudulent notices quickly led to their re-suppression. The identity of those behind these takedown requests remains unclear, and the Carbonara campaign did not respond to inquiries about its knowledge or involvement.
This incident highlights a novel abuse of DMCA law to silence political speech, an issue previously seen in authoritarian regimes and isolated cases in U.S. politics regarding campaign ads. Silverstein suggested that affected media outlets should consider legal action to uncover the parties responsible for this "legally wrong, ethically wrong, [and] morally wrong" attempt to influence an election.