Author laments after her novel was banned from Google Docs due to 'inappropriate content'



Google's '

abuse program ' restricts accounts when sharing inappropriate content, such as sexual or violent content, when using services such as Google Drive, Docs, and Sheets. Authors who write and publish romance novels on Google Docs have reported cases where their Google accounts were suddenly blocked due to this policy.

Author locked out of Google Docs for 'inappropriate' content sparks online control concerns
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/author-locked-out-of-google-docs-for-inappropriate-content-sparks-online-control-concerns-12719164.html



Romance author gets locked out of Google Docs for “inappropriate” content - Dexerto
https://www.dexerto.com/tech/romance-author-gets-locked-out-of-google-docs-for-inappropriate-content-2713004/

Author K. Lenny had saved a text file with a total of about 222,000 words in multiple documents in Google Docs. However, when Lenny tried to share a new work, he was shown the message 'This item cannot be shared because it is deemed inappropriate.' Lenny's work was shared as 'viewable by anyone with the link,' and readers could access and read the document, but from the reader's perspective, it said, 'You no longer have permission to view this document. If you think this is an error, please contact the document owner.'



Renee describes her work as 'open-door spice' and acknowledges that it is a romance work that contains explicit and 'spicy' expressions. However, the Google Drive and Docs policies include an exception that states, 'We may make exceptions to the application of the policy based on artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific viewpoints, or when there is other significant public interest in not taking action against the content,' so Renee argues that 'it should not apply to novels that are for artistic purposes.'

Similarly, Courtney Wims, who writes fantasy romance novels, reported on Instagram that 'explicit content is considered spam by Google.' Wims said that although she has never been blocked by Google, several people, including writers she knows, have had their accounts locked, and without a backup, their work itself is lost. Wims said, 'It's possible that the Google Docs link shared with dozens of people was treated as spam. Be careful about the number of links, always back up your data, and publish it on a website other than Google.'

Similar cases were reported around 2017. Several Google Docs users claimed that they lost access to Google Docs, even though the content they owned and shared did not violate Google policies. Rachel Bale, a reporter for National Geographic at the time, whose account was locked, commented on the document censorship, saying, 'My draft article on wildlife crime was frozen for violating the terms of service. I never save articles on sensitive topics in Google Docs. Google Docs is useful because it allows you to collaborate with others in real time, but this kind of surveillance is creepy.'




The series of account lockouts that occurred around 2017 were the result of mistakenly flagging Google Docs for abuse, and were fixed a few days later. Meanwhile, it is unclear at the time of writing whether the accounts of writers, including Lenny, can recover files. Lenny said, 'Google did not specify which of the 222,000 words were inappropriate. There was no indication of what made the document unshareable, and it may have been due to malicious reports from readers.'

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