Google reports that it is making a lot of money by advertising guns while saying 'I refuse to advertise guns'
In the United States, where shooting incidents have occurred one after another, discussions over gun control have become active, especially in the wake of the death of many children in
Google Says It Bans Gun Ads. It Actually Makes Money From Them. — ProPublica
https://www.propublica.org/article/google-guns-ads-firearms-alphabet-advertising
ProPublica, an American non-profit and independent news organization, said on June 14, 2022, ``For the past 20 years, Google has stated that it will not accept gun advertising as it does not fit with its values and culture. But in the wake of May's string of shootings at grocery stores in New York and elementary schools in Texas, millions of ads from America's biggest gun makers were replaced by Google ads. It was found that it flowed through the system to websites and apps, and in some cases violated policies without the administrator's knowledge.'
According to ProPublica, 15 of America's largest gun dealers, including the manufacturer of the gun used by the Texas elementary school shooting, are using Google's system to advertise. The number of impressions (the number of times the advertisement was displayed) was 120 million only between March 9th and June 6th. Google received a small fee each time these ads were shown to users.
Below is an example of an ad spotted by ProPublica. Advertisements such as tactical vests with many pouches for ammunition and belts (slings) for carrying guns are displayed on the left, right and bottom of the game distributed by the game site Baby Games for children. It has been.
Among the sites where ProPublica found firearms advertisements, spokespersons at several sites such as Denver, Colorado's daily newspaper The Denver Post and IT news site MacRumors accept advertisements for guns and weapons. I said it's weird to see ads because there isn't one. Some sites also responded that they would conduct an internal investigation after being notified by ProPublica.
The display of gun ads contrary to Google's advertising policy and the site's owner's policy is said to be due to a loophole in Google's advertising system.
According to ProPublica, there are roughly two routes for Google to distribute advertisements. One is Google's own advertising network that is displayed on Google search, YouTube, etc., and the other is that partners other than Google use Google's system to post advertisements through
Even more problematic is that Google's advertising tools allow firearm makers to track ad viewers and target ads . The advertisement for the gun-related product posted at Baby Games above was also displayed when the ProPublica reporter accessed Baby Games after visiting the firearm manufacturer's site.
Instead of directly blocking these advertisements, Google has taken measures such as `` requesting that websites opt out not to receive advertisements such as firearms delivered from Google's partners ''. Regarding this, Zach Edwards, founder of the advertising consultancy Victory Medium, said, ``Google deliberately created loopholes in its retargeting system to allow a large amount of policy-violating ads to flow in. These loopholes were created. It's been 10 years since it was done, but I can't help but be astonished that Google still allows firearm makers' retargeting ads to be displayed on sites for children, etc.
Meanwhile, Google spokesperson Michael Aciman said, ``Google does not allow Google ads to run alongside firearms content nor Google ads promoting weapons. We provide tools for publishers to decide whether to accept third-party ads about weapons, and we do not block sites that choose to serve these ads. We are committed to providing our users with a safe internet experience and ensuring that our advertising complies with all our policies.'
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