Google Banned Aussie Abortion & Contraceptive Provider’s Adverts

Abortion and contraceptive provider MSI Australia has said that Google has banned its adverts in search results over a misinterpretation of Australian law.

Since 3 December, the provider said that Google has prevented it from using Search ads. It also said that Google had placed a wide-ranging ban on advertising links to the MSI website.

According to The Guardian, Google might have misinterpreted mentions of medical abortions on the MSI Australia website as promoting abortion-inducing drugs despite the drugs themselves not being names on the site.

“We have longstanding policies that govern abortion-related ads on Google’s platforms,” a Google spokesperson said.

“Abortion advertisements can run in Australia as long as the advertiser is certified. However, under local legal requirements, abortion-inducing drugs are not allowed to be marketed or promoted.”

The spokesperson also added that a review had identified wording on the MSI website that might run contrary to Google’s rules.

“After reviewing the ads in question, we are working intently with the advertiser to clarify some minor amendments that will enable them to run policy compliant ads again as soon as possible,” they said.

“It’s like Groundhog Day, Google has yet again enforced a blanket ban of abortion campaigns in Australia,” said MSI Australia managing director Jamal Hakim.

“We are sick and tired of advertising policies being misinterpreted and restricting the ability of people to find accurate and compassionate information about abortion. Abortion is legal in Australia but it is not easily accessible. Google’s ban is restricting abortion access.”




Please login with linkedin to comment

Google MSI Australia

Latest News

The Monkeys, Howatson+Co, VML Australia Win Big At The One Show’s Awards
  • Advertising

The Monkeys, Howatson+Co, VML Australia Win Big At The One Show’s Awards

The Monkeys, by Accenture Song, were the second most awarded agency in Asia-Pacific, closely followed by VML Australia and M&C Saatchi, while Howatson+Company is the region’s top indy. The One Show has unveiled FCB New York as the most creative agency at this year’s awards. FCB picked up 53 awards, and was followed by Rethink […]

Val Morgan Digital Partners With Audigent To Connect Brands With Passionate Audiences At Scale
  • Advertising

Val Morgan Digital Partners With Audigent To Connect Brands With Passionate Audiences At Scale

Val Morgan Digital has partnered with Audigent, a data platform that unlocks the power of first-party data to maximise cookie-less addressability for advertisers. The partnership provided Val Morgan Digital with a suite of tools and data management platform (DMP) capabilities for collecting and activating audience insights across its portfolio of passion-based community websites. Val Morgan […]

Nine Promotes Nikki Rooke To Replace Richard Hunwick As Director Of Sales – Total TV
  • Advertising

Nine Promotes Nikki Rooke To Replace Richard Hunwick As Director Of Sales – Total TV

Nine has promoted Nikki Rooke to director of sales – total television, to replace Richard Hunwick. Currently director of sales – Sydney, with commercial responsibility for Nine’s TV, streaming, audio and publishing assets, Rooke will lead Nine’s national total television sales team overseeing Metro TV, Regional TV and BVOD. Working alongside Jo Clasby (director of […]

The Unexpected Guest Wins oOh!media’s Inaugural Indigenous Business Grant
  • Advertising

The Unexpected Guest Wins oOh!media’s Inaugural Indigenous Business Grant

The Unexpected Guest, an Australian-made and owned breakfast food products company has been named as the inaugural winner of oOh!media’s Indigenous business grant. Lead image: Jenny Khan and Sarah Young. Launched to support Indigenous small businesses with pro-bono and significantly discounted out-of-home media packages, The Unexpected Guest was one of 63 submissions received from a […]

News Corp Launches Indigenous Sport Week Editorial Campaign
  • Advertising

News Corp Launches Indigenous Sport Week Editorial Campaign

News Corp Australia’s annual Indigenous Sport Week has kicked off. Running from May 20-26, the editorial campaign celebrated the rich history, and future, of Indigenous Sport in Australia through storytelling. Each year, News’ sport newsrooms across the country prioritise supporting the AFL and NRL Indigenous rounds and super netball first nations round. The coverage is […]