Google Inc. will no longer allow advertisers on its advertising network to walk on the wild side. It has begun to enforce a policy change on the presence of pornographic content generated by advertisers on the network.
The company announced in March that its policy was changing, giving these advertisers time to prepare to change the appearance and graphic content of their ads to conform with the new policy.
The change in policy was posted on Google's AdWords support page and reads "The AdWords policies on adult sexual services, family status, and underage or nonconsensual sex acts will be updated in late June 2014 to reflect a new policy on sexually explicit content. Sexually explicit content will be prohibited, and guidelines will be clarified regarding promotion of other adult content. The change will affect all countries. We made this decision as an effort to continually improve users' experience with AdWords."
AdWords is Google's proprietary program for partnering with advertisers to promote their businesses via Google's advertising network. Google has earnings in search and mobile, but its ad network brings in the majority of its earnings -- $13.8 billion in the most recent quarter.
As of now, Google's new policy is in effect. Advertisers affected by the changes received an email from Google delineating the new standards. These guidelines state that advertisers cannot promote: Graphic depiction of sexual acts; content with underage or nonconsensual sexual themes, including child sexual abuse content; and services that may be interpreted as providing sexual acts in exchange for compensation.
The latter two new restrictions may just seem like common sense, as they describe activities that are simply illegal in most of the world. Google states, however, that these rules apply to content whether or not it "meets applicable legal restrictions."
The banning of sexually explicit content, as Google sees it, includes the depiction or discussion of genital, anal and oral sexual activity and other acts meant to arouse. Underage-themed content and nonconsensual or illegal conduct speaks for itself.
Promoting escorts and escort services has also been prohibited, as has the promotion of prostitution or call girls. Intimate companionship services, a related category, is also on the banned list.
What is still allowed, with limitations, are the promotion of "nonintimate" massage services (where no intimacy is implied, or even actual massaging, perhaps), strip clubs and lap dancing (that seems like a bizarre OK) and adult and sexual dating sites.
Google reserves the right to review all ads and forbid the running of those that violate the new policy. Advertisers may amend these ads to conform to the new guidelines, and re-submit them for Google approval.
