Google takes down anti-Filipino blog

MANILA, Philippines — It was Google itself that removed a blog with a post promoting hatred against Filipinos in Singapore, the technology company confirmed.

Google told the Malay Mail on Friday that the blog, Blood Stained Singapore, violated its community rules for Blogger where it is hosted. Blogger is a free service owned by Google.

The content policy states that blogs and content should not "cross the line by publishing hate speech."

"We mean content that promotes hate or violence towards groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity. For example, don't write a blog saying that members of Race X are criminals or advocating violence against followers of Religion Y," Google's Blogger says.

Google, however, refused to comment further on the issue and did not confirm whether the action as in response to the Philippine Embassy's request from the Singaporean government to hold the person behind the blog accountable.

The blog earned media attention for its encouraging of Singaporeans to denounce the presence of Filipinos in the city-state "without breaking the law."

Singaporean Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin lauded Google's removal of the blog, saying "vile and vicious blogs do not reflect who we are as a people."

"Let us be clear. This is not about freedom of speech or a debate about immigration or foreign workforce policy. This is about racism and xenophobia and there is no place for racists and xenophobes in our society," he said in a post on Facebook.