- Google will start banning ads from August 18th onwards.
- It will ban ads that promote conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus pandemic.
- This step is taken by the search giant in order to curb the spread of misinformation.
On Friday, it was reported that Google will start banning ads which promote coronavirus related conspiracy theories starting from next month.
The search giant updated its policy in view of the ongoing health complications that is rising day by day. This was done in order to prevent misinformation from being spread.
As such, Google will ban publishers from using its advertisement platforms to show content related to coronavirus conspiracy theories. These theories would include like vaccines being used to modify the human population, that Bill Gates created Covid-19 or that the disease was made as a bioweapon in Chinese labs. It will also ban ads that promote these theories.
In cases when a site produces a large amount of such theories, then Google has also stated that such sites will be banned completely.
The company had already banned some ads which were deemed harmful in regards to public health.
Google will also ban ads that promote unsubstantiated cures or disease prevention and which promote anti-vaccination movement.
Conspiracy theories related to the pandemic can bring about serious and harmful consequences. For instance, conspiracy theories relating 5G to Covid-19 led to arson and damage in 5G towers in the UK.
Google will begin enforcing the policy from August 18. The company can remove ads from single articles or in some cases, the whole site.
The policy won’t apply to pages debunking or reporting on the existence of these theories. It also does not apply to non-coronavirus related conspiracy theories.
“We are putting additional safeguards in place by expanding our harmful health claims policies for both publishers and advertisers to include dangerous content about a health crisis that contradicts scientific consensus,” a spokesperson of Google told The Verge.
Presently, Google allows only certain institutions to run ads about the coronavirus pandemic which includes government organizations and health care providers. This is to prevent activities like price-gouging on medical supplies.
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