U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) speaks to reporters throughout a break from a Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations joint briefing on the U.S. coverage on Afghanistan, on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 2, 2022.
Al Drago | Reuters
Google has failed to take down rip-off ads that violate its insurance policies, in accordance to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chair of the Senate Commerce subcommittee on client safety.
In a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday, Blumenthal wrote that Google’s insurance policies about deceptive ads “typically seem to be useless letter legislation” as a result of of its lack of enforcement.
“I’m deeply involved that Google seems unwilling to shield customers and small companies on Google Ads, and has demonstrated insufficient due diligence towards fraud and abuse,” he wrote.
Blumenthal’s letter cites a 2021 article from The Markup that discovered Google ran ads made to seem like authorities web sites in violation of its personal insurance policies. At the time, a Google spokesperson informed the publication it eliminated the violating ads.
But Blumenthal stated his workplace not too long ago discovered deceptive ads utilizing the identical key phrases talked about within the article. His employees additionally discovered ads for deceptive well being therapies, he added.
Google has previously added verification processes meant to restrict impersonation of authorities providers, like getting a passport.
But Blumenthal charged that the continued existence of deceptive ads burdens small companies by making it more durable and dearer for his or her websites to floor in search outcomes, whereas padding Google’s pockets.
Blumenthal stated Google’s give attention to “paid ads over actual solutions” in the end leads to burying smaller rivals.
“We have strict insurance policies in place to shield individuals and advertisers alike from abuse, together with guidelines that govern the use of emblems in advert campaigns and safeguard companies from infringement,” a Google spokesperson stated in an announcement.
“Our Google Search ads are additionally clearly labeled and we depend on in depth consumer testing to guarantee advert labels meet our excessive requirements for being outstanding and distinguishable from unpaid outcomes. We are reviewing Senator Blumenthal’s letter and can work immediately together with his workplace to present a full response.”
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