MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – By the end of June, Google plans to be out of the porn advertising business. The move should surprise no one: As early as March, the search-engine giant began dropping hints that it might disallow AdWords ads promoting adult content.
Nevertheless, when Google late last week began sending messages warning the policy changes were imminent, adult and mainstream advertisers and publishers sat up and took notice. So did relentlessly sanctimonious Morality in Media, which claimed responsibility for the pending revisions.
“We are celebrating a HUGE VICTORY!” MiM Executive Director Dawn Hawkins proclaimed in an open letter to supporters posted under the headline “BIG WIN” on MiM’s Porn Harms blog. “Google sent an email out alerting their advertisers — particularly pornography and other adult themed websites — that they will be implementing their new advertising policy which eliminates pornographic and sexually explicit ads. In addition, it seems Google will also no longer link to sites that contain such materials, no matter how benign their advertising. [Emphasis in original.]
“In our [May 2014] meeting with them, we specifically asked for these two updates to their policy and Google has complied!”
Hawkins’ assertion is a bit misleading. So far, at least, Google has said nothing about eliminating adult websites from organic search engine results pages. What the company intends to do, it noted in the letter, is ban “ads that promote graphic depictions of sexual acts including, but not limited to, hardcore pornography; graphic sexual acts including sex acts such as masturbation; genital, anal, and oral sexual activity.” In other words, neither the ads nor the websites to which they point will be allowed to participate in AdWords. In addition, the company will not allow AdWords ads to run on sites that contain those kinds of potentially offensive material. The shift could affect income not only of adult website operators, but also of the mainstream and gray-area websites that occasionally seek to appeal to adult-content consumers.
Google has said the AdWords content policy changes are part of “an effort to continually improve users’ experiences with AdWords.” On June 30, 2013, the company updated Google-owned Blogger’s content policy, prohibiting ads for adult content and services. Blogs that ignored the edict were deleted. AdWords currently prohibits ads of any kind for escorts, prostitution, international bride services that target certain countries and “sex-related services and information” (such as erotic massage). Strip clubs and adult-dating websites are allowed to advertise with restrictions.
AdWords users who defy the coming content policy changes risk having their accounts deactivated, Google’s notice stated.
[Before anyone is tempted to level First Amendment accusations, it should be noted that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom from government censorship, not censorship in the private and commerical sectors. –Ed.]
