Google updates its advertising policy to prohibit the promotion of services that can create fake pornographic content using AI

Google recorded advertising-related sales of $70 billion (approximately 11 trillion yen) in the first quarter of 2024 (January to March), and still boasts the largest share in the Internet advertising market. Google has updated its advertising policy to prohibit 'promotion of synthetic content that has been modified or generated to include sexually explicit content or nudity.' This will prohibit the promotion of services that can create 'deep fake porn,' which is pornographic content created using deep fakes (fake images and videos created using AI technology that are indistinguishable from the real thing).

Google bans advertisers from promoting deepfake porn services - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/3/24148368/google-ad-policy-deepfake-pornography-nudes

Google has long prohibited 'sexually explicit ads' (text, images, audio, and video depicting graphic sexual acts for the purpose of sexual arousal), and in the sexual content section of its advertising policy, 'nudity' and 'sexual dating' are specified as severely restricted categories, and 'partial nudity,' 'sexually themed dating,' 'sexual products,' 'sexual entertainment,' 'adult beauty treatments,' and 'sexually suggestive elements and themes' are also severely restricted from distribution as some restricted categories. However, until now, the promotion of services that can generate deep fake pornography and other forms of sexual content has not been prohibited.

On May 1, 2024 local time, Google announced an update to its inappropriate content policy, revealing that it will now prohibit 'the promotion of synthetic content that has been altered or generated to include sexually explicit material or nudity.'

Update to Inappropriate Content Policy (May 2024) - Advertising Policies Help
https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/14720423

The policy change is scheduled to come into effect on May 30, 2024, and will prohibit the promotion of websites or applications that offer instructions on how to create deepfake pornography.

'This policy change is to explicitly prohibit advertising for services that suggest creating deepfake pornography or synthetic nude content,' Google advertising spokesperson Michael Aciman told The Verge.

According to Aciman, all ads that violate Google's advertising policies will be removed. Whether ads delivered through Google Ads violate the policies is determined by a combination of human review and machine-based automatic recognition systems. According to Google's annual Ad Safety Report , this system removed more than 1.8 billion ads in 2023 for violating its sexual content policies.

In the United States, the damage caused by deepfake pornography is becoming more serious, and it has been pointed out that regulations are not keeping up. In January 2024, Taylor Swift, a world-famous singer, was a victim of deepfake pornography, which became a global issue.

'Taylor Swift' is no longer searchable on X (formerly Twitter) to prevent the spread of deep fake pornography - GIGAZINE