As fears grow that the Coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) could become a pandemic, there are several companies that are trying to take advantage of the panic generated to sell products that apparently promise protection against the disease. To avoid profiting from a public health emergency, Google has decided to temporarily ban all ads on the search engine, YouTube and mobile device platforms that promote the purchase of medical facial masks.
We are committed to protecting users and providing useful information and from official sources as the Coronavirus situation continues to evolve, says a Google spokesman. We are actively monitoring it and will continue to take steps to ensure everyone's safety, he adds.
The Google spokesman clarifies, in an interview with Business Insider, that the company's advertising policy bans companies that explicitly use words like Coronavirus to promote the sale of their products. The company indicates that it has been blocking hundreds of thousands of ads in the past six weeks.
However, so far, Google's policy does not include ads that did not directly mention COVID-19, but which attempted to profit from the panic of the population. N95 facial masks, which are generally used to filter toxic particles in the air in the event of a fire, are being advertised as something that can be used to protect against a possible infection with SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes the disease.
The Mountain View giant was not the only one to take action against the exploitation of the world emergency. Facebook recently announced in a post on its blog that it will also temporarily ban ads and listings of medical facial masks from its social networks. In addition, the company decided to remove from Instagram all potentially false information about COVID-19.