Within 24 hours no advertisements will appear on Google or YouTube in relation to Ireland's May 25 referendum in an attempt to curtail thoughts seeking to influence the vote.
Google has announced that it is banning all advertisements related to Ireland’s referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the constitution, which will open door to rewriting Ireland’s legislation on medical procedure of abortion.
Read more: Together for Yes: Saoirse Ronan and Cillian Murphy voice support for Repealing the Eight
The internet giant, Google’s announcement on Wednesday follows on from Facebook’s Tuesday reveal that they would ban advertisements on the referendum from groups outside Ireland, who might seek to influence the Irish vote.
Google just banned all abortion referendum ads in Ireland https://t.co/3Tz9LdluN9 pic.twitter.com/OB8a39Zk5B
— VICE News (@vicenews) May 9, 2018
A Google spokesperson said “Following our update around election integrity efforts globally, we have decided to pause all ads related to the Irish referendum on the Eighth Amendment.”
This will come into effect within 24 hours and be executed across all Google sites, including Adwords, and YouTube. It will not impact Google searches on the topic.
On May 4 Google announced it would roll out a verification process for election ads in the United States. This latest announcement is linked to that process.
Read more: Facebook interference a threat to democracy in upcoming Irish abortion vote
Facebook and Google's decision brings them a step closer to being in line with Twitter's police. The social media / messaging app, Twitter, has not allowed advertising in relation to the Irish referendum from the start. It's general policy on advertising is no promotion of various health issues, including abortion advocacy and abortion clinics.