Google to update ad policies that prohibit 'unlawful discrimination' against users
The new update will prevent impacted employment, housing, and credit advertisers from targeting or excluding ads based on gender, age, parental status, marital status, or ZIP Code
Google will be updating its ad policies, which will prohibit impacted employment, house and credit advertisers from targeting or excluding ads based on gender, age, parental or marital status or ZIP code of users.
In a blog post, Scott Spenser, the VP of Product Management, Ads Privacy and Safety, wrote that Google Ad Policies are written to safeguard users, advertisers and publishers from discrimination. He assured that the company will swing into action if marketers violate these policies.
Spencer wrote that Google will be introducing a new, personalised advertising policy for certain types of ads to crack down on discriminatory behaviour on the part of advertisers. The tech giant already has a long-standing policy of prohibiting marketers from targetting on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality and disability.
Spender added that Google plans to roll out this update in the US and Canada at least by the end of the year. In the coming weeks, the company will give a complete picture of how the policy changes may impact advertisers.
"We’ve been working closely with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on these changes for some time, and we appreciate their guidance in helping us make progress on these important issues. As part of our effort, we’ll provide housing advertisers with additional information about fair housing to help ensure they are acting in ways that support access to housing opportunities. We will also continue to work with HUD, civil rights and housing experts, and the broader advertising industry to address concerns around discrimination in ad targeting," he wrote.
