Starting on August 18, Google will officially "ban publishers from using its ad platform next to content that promotes conspiracy theories about Covid-19," meaning unless they tow the government's version of events, they will no longer qualify for Google ad revenue.

This is significant because upwards of 70 percent of all online ad spending is controlled by Google. Getting the axe by Google, in other words, means that sites will potentially be cut off from their primary revenue streams simply for offering a different perspective on the pandemic.

While the new rule will supposedly only apply to specific pages on a web platform that discuss the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), Google added the caveat that "in cases where a particular site publishes a certain threshold of material that violates these policies, it will ban the entire site from using its ad platforms."