GOOGLE ON FRIDAY announced it will begin banning advertisements from running next to content that promotes conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.
The company will also prohibit publishers from running advertisements that promote conspiracy theories, CNBC reported. Additionally, if a website publishes a certain amount of material that violates these policies, Google will ban the entire site from using its ad platform.
Google already prohibits advertisements on content that makes dangerous claims about unproven health cures or disease prevention, including anti-vaccine campaigns. It is now extending that policy to ban ads against content that makes claims contrary to scientific consensus, according to CNBC.
Banned claims include conspiracy theories, such as assertions that potential vaccines will genetically modify the population, that COVID-19 is a bioweapon created in a lab in China or that Bill Gates created the virus.
Google will begin enforcing its new rule on Aug. 18 and will have the ability to remove advertisements from articles or entire sites.
