The illuminated Google logo can be seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018.
Arnd Wiegmann Reuters
Google will suspend political ads along with any mention of “impeachment, consecration or protests at the U.S. Capitol” beginning Thursday.
“We routinely block ads over invisible, ‘sensitive’ events where advertisements can be used to exploit the event or increase false information,” Google said in a statement on Wednesday. In this regard, we have long had policies blocking content that incites violence or incites hatred and we will be extra vigilant about enforcing any advertisements that cross this line. “
In an email to advertisers, Google said there would be no sculpting in the policy for news or product advertisers. While the policy is in place, advertisers will not be able to run ads mentioning candidates, the election, its outcome, the upcoming inauguration, the ongoing presidential impeachment process, violence at Capitol the U.S. or any potential future objections to these topics.
“This policy will be widely distributed over ads that run through Google Ads, DV360, YouTube, and AdX Authorized Buyer and is intended to block all advertisements related to the items are described above, “the email said.
Google also noted the “dangerous and harmful content policy,” which bans ads inciting hatred or inciting violence. “With the events of the past week, we are extremely vigilant about the implementation of any advertisements that may reasonably be said to cross this line. “
The email told advertisers that the company plans to keep the policy in place until at least January 21st.
The news comes the morning after Google blocked President Trump’s YouTube account Tuesday and issued a formal warning to the White House about using the world’s largest video platform. .
Google had also imposed a temporary halt on election-related advertising after the election, which it lifted about a month later in December. The company had banned these ads for a period of time in an attempt to block misleading message or information through advertising because they expected delayed election results.
The stop was first reported by Axios.