A pro-Afrikaans Web site has already had to let two employees go after Google decided to stop channelling advertisements to the site.
Writer and activist Dan Roodt says his Pro-Afrikaanse Aksiegroep (Praag) Web site has made thousands of rands from advertising on the site, and would now have to look for alternative means to ensure the site's future.
"[Google's withdrawal of the advertisements] definitely has an impact. At times we get more than R10 000 a month in revenue from the advertisements. It puts us in a difficult position. We will make other plans, but we already had to let two employees go because we are now suddenly without this income."
Roodt explains that he contacted Google after the advertisements disappeared from the site, and was told they had been pulled because Afrikaans is not one of Google's recognised advertising languages.
He says he tried to explain that Afrikaans is similar to Dutch and that the Web site from time to time carries Dutch content as well, to which Google replied it can only revoke its decision if the site carries more Dutch than Afrikaans content.
Google AdSense recognises Dutch as an advertising language, along with languages like Slovenian, Finnish, Latvian and Lithuanian.
Google will continue to channel advertisements to Praag's English Web site, but Roodt says traffic on this site is much less than its Afrikaans counterpart and advertising revenue will not be sufficient to keep Praag running.
According to Roodt, Google's decision was influenced by an anti-Praag group, which runs a Facebook page called "Speak out against Web site Praag", and accuses Praag of being racist and spreading division and hate-speech. "Praag is just a Web site that promotes Afrikaans and publishes opinions in Afrikaans," he says.
Roodt says while Praag will contact advertisers directly for the time being, he will continue to pursue the matter with Google. "I think this is just as detrimental to other smaller Afrikaans Web sites, so it is worth following this up with Google."
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