Google Adds Restriction for Gambling and Alcohol

Google's search engine and tech giant would limit customer exposure to gambling and alcohol advertising by providing consumers the ability to turn off advertisements they don't want to display.

Google Bans Gambling And Alcohol Advertising

Google strives to empower marginalized users by empowering them to filter sensitive information and ban gambling and alcohol advertising. The project is part of the collaboration between the search engine giant and the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking, which aims to ban advertising that could affect individual markets.

Users will now restrict different forms of advertising, including but not limited to gambling and alcohol, due to new ad conditions. This is in addition to the current workaround, Mute This Ad, which enables users to mask advertisements, and is a further expansion to Google's geographic age limitation approach to ensuring advertising is age-appropriate.

Google will progressively test the functionality, first introduce the YouTube Ads option in the U.S., then proceed with a global roll-out for Google Ads and YouTube. Users would be able to turn on and off the tool, enabling them to flexibly choose how to view the material they see.

Commenting on this growth, Henry Ashworth, CEO of the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking, expressed optimism that thanks to the latest strategy and collaboration with Google, the benefits for disadvantaged customers would be significant.

The Alliance's own goal is to allow risk groups to have more input on what they want to see and engage with sensitive content forms.

“Respecting these personal preferences and recognizing differences in culture requires sensitivity and action, that’s why we hope this partnership is the start of a bigger movement,”- Ashworth said.

Gambling Advertising Remit Regulators

Gambling advertisements and material was a hot subject for Google, which sought to crack down on certain forms of illegal commercials that were emerging. Usually it's media authorities who have the final say, however.

According to the Advertising Standards Authority, the country's communications watchdog, the UK has led the way in reducing ad distribution to underage individuals and Q3 2020 has been a success.

Communication officials were looking to fine-tune all corporations and search engines. In one case, the Italian communications regulator, AGCOM has fined Google for violating the country's ban on gambling advertising.

Google follows in the footsteps of Facebook, another tech company that partnered up with the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) in September to encourage more users to restrict the reach and strength of the gambling content they see.