Google Tightens Personalised Ad Policies Against Sensitive Issues Like Race, Religion, Sexuality

San Francisco: Google has announced to further tighten its ad policies around housing, employment and credit opportunities in order to prohibit advertisers from discriminating against users. Also Read – James Anderson Reacts on Racism Debate, Questions His Inner Conscience For Turning ‘Blind Eye’ on Jofra Archer Episode in New Zealand

The company is introducing a new personalised advertising policy for certain types of ads. Also Read – Now, You Can Find COVID-19 Testing Centres Across India Through This New Google Tool

“This policy will prohibit impacted employment, housing, and credit advertisers from targeting or excluding ads based on gender, age, parental status, marital status, or ZIP Code,” explained Scott Spencer, Vice President of Product Management, Ads Privacy and Safety. Also Read – ‘Terf’ Becomes The Most Searched Query on Google After JK Rowling’s Anti-Trans Tweets, Here’s What it Means

This is in addition to the longstanding Google policies prohibiting personalisation based on sensitive categories like race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, national origin or disability.

“While the changing circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic and business continuity issues for many advertisers make precise timelines difficult, we plan to roll out this update in the US and Canada as soon as possible,” Spencer said in a statement on Thursday.

“We also give users control over the kinds of ads they see, including the ability to opt-out of seeing any personalized ads. Our ads policies apply to all the ads we serve and if we find ads that violate our policies, we take action,” he added.

Google has been working closely with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on these changes for some time.

“These changes complement our work with businesses, governments, and community organizations to distribute $1 billion we committed for Bay Area housing,” said Google.