Last week, after years of leftist mockery, Google finally admitted conservatives were right all along about online censorship.

On Sept. 23, the tech giant’s lawyers sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee stating the obvious: Former President Joe Biden’s administration applied “repeated and sustained” pressure on the company to silence his political opponents.

Biden’s tactics were “unacceptable and wrong,” the attorneys declared.

Pop the champagne corks!

But before the party gets underway, let’s be clear-eyed about what really happened here: Google admitted little, promised less — and pledged to change nothing.

It offered not confession but evasion.

Here’s what Google’s letter really told Congress.

1. Google revealed nothing new

Mark Zuckerberg already confessed, twice, that Biden officials repeatedly demanded Facebook censor conservatives and suppress important content, even describing the White House staff as “screaming” and “cursing” at Facebook’s employees.

Elon Musk went further — the Twitter Files laid the censorship playbook bare in 2022.

With years to get it right, Google’s carefully lawyered letter added nothing to the record.

2. Google admitted no wrongdoing

After numerous self-congratulatory paragraphs about how responsive, helpful and transparent it’s now being, the company never once admitted that its vast censorship efforts — and its even more pervasive manipulation of political content — were wrong.

It even misled Congress, falsely indicating that it did not target stories pertaining to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That must have shocked truth-tellers like Jennifer Zeng, Matt Taibbi and Bret Weinstein, who know firsthand that the company silenced origin stories after announcing in 2020 that it was actively using fact-check panels to counter COVID claims.

Instead, Google wrapped itself in generalities: “It is unacceptable and wrong when any government . . . attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content.”

Note the key phrase — any government. That is less contrition than warning.

With multiple ongoing congressional investigations and even more possible enforcement actions by regulatory agencies, Google’s message to Republicans is unmistakable: We’ll use every bit of our $3 trillion of wealth to resist you.

In its own words, it “will not bend to political pressure.”

3. Google volunteered nothing

Musk disclosed Biden’s censorship machinery voluntarily. Zuckerberg required no subpoena.

Google? Only after legal compulsion did it produce a deliberately anemic letter.

Why? Because it has the most to hide.

Our work at the Media Research Center found that the search giant, consistently and without fail, buried Donald Trump’s campaign website during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Google also pushed right-leaning media sites several pages deep in its search results, where users rarely venture.

It even directed users to Kamala Harris’ campaign website when they were actually searching other candidates.

4. Google clarified nothing

The company insisted its rules apply equally to all users. But it wrote bias into those rules.

For example, in 2021 Google barred any claim that fraud or glitches changed the outcome of a US presidential election — but only for content posted after December 9, 2020.

Hillary Clinton’s posts about 2016? Safe. Stacey Abrams’ claims about 2018? Secure.

Trump and his supporters? Censored.

Equality of enforcement masks inequality of design.

5. Google pledged nothing

The letter promised to “enable free expression” — not “free speech.” The distinction is deliberate.

Free speech is constitutional language, the First Amendment’s core. “Expression” is corporate jargon.   

Google allows you to speak — but reserves the right to bury what you say. What appears as generosity is simply power cloaked in euphemism.

In fact, Google’s only reference to the First Amendment relates to its own twisted logic offered repeatedly in court, that it has a Constitutional right to censor the speech of others.

6. Google changed nothing

The company insisted it doesn’t outsource fact-checking. True; it conducts its censorship in-house.

The difference is cosmetic. Whether outsourced or internal, the result is the same: disfavored information disappears.

Google remains what it has long been — the most powerful curator and arbiter of “truth” on the planet.

7. Google said nothing

At least Zuckerberg and Musk signed their letters to Congress. Google delegated its response to outside counsel, nearly 3,000 miles from its own offices.

For all practical purposes, Google’s leadership remains mute, beyond the reach of accountability. And the letter’s author is shielded by attorney-client privilege.

Enough: Free speech advocates can no longer take a wait-and-see approach.

Congress should make clear that Big Tech platforms are “common carriers,” prohibited under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act from censoring users.

The Federal Communications Commission can take action through its rule-making processes, and the Federal Trade Commission can penalize Google for deceptive advertising practices.

Efforts like these would truly be worthy of celebration.

Dan Schneider is vice president for free speech at the Media Research Center.