Google Merchant Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Google Ads policy updates
At April 14, 2020
The impact of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is evolving every day and we are working hard to maintain a safe advertising ecosystem for users, advertisers, and publishers. This page provides important information and updates on measures we are taking to prevent abuse related to coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Advertisers must follow Google Ads policies when serving coronavirus disease (COVID-19) related content, in particular our Sensitive events policy, which prohibits any content that seeks to capitalize on the pandemic, or lacks reasonable sensitivity towards this global health crisis.
We will continue to evaluate the situation to both address new products/services that are being used to exploit users, as well as re-enable certain products/services when the situation stabilizes.
We will update this page as the situation evolves. Please check this page for updates on how Google Ads is addressing the situation to ensure a safe and positive experience for users.
Latest Updates
[30 March 2020] Updating our sensitive events policy:
In March 2020, we clarified that any “public health emergency” will be treated as a sensitive event. For more information, please see the “Sensitive Events Policy” under Inappropriate Content policy.
Restricting the sale of personal protective equipment, and other products and services, which may be vital during Coronavirus disease (COVID-19):
We are enforcing a temporary restriction on personal protective equipment to prevent advertising that may capitalize on coronavirus disease (COVID-19), based on our “Sensitive Events policy” under Inappropriate Content policy.
We are also taking additional steps to prevent artificially inflated prices that limit or prohibit access to other essential items on Google’s network.
Advertiser eligibility to serve Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) related ads:
In order to ensure our users have access to essential information while navigating coronavirus disease (COVID-19), some entities are now eligible to run coronavirus disease (COVID-19) related ads.
We are currently allowing ads from government organizations, healthcare providers, non-governmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, verified election ads advertisers and managed private sector accounts with a history of policy compliance who want to get relevant information out to the public. We are continuing to evaluate our policy and enforcement processes as the situation evolves to phase in more advertisers in the coming weeks.
Ensuring the privacy of our users:
We will ensure the privacy and safety of our users by continuing to prohibit audience targeting on Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) related content based on Personalized Ads policy.
Protecting our extended workforce and community:
We are taking steps to prioritize the well-being of our employees, extended workforce, and the communities where they live, including reducing in-office staffing in certain sites. This may result in some delays while we provide support to our users, advertisers and publishers.
Source: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/9811449?hl=en
