TECH GIANTS Google and YouTube have declared that they will ban all ads relating to the upcoming referendum on abortion.
The announcement comes a day after Facebook announced that it was to begin rejecting adverts from foreign groups seeking to influence the outcome of the referendum on 25 May.
The ban will include ads on YouTube and Google Adwords and will take effect from tomorrow.
The company have said that the move is part of its broader efforts around election integrity globally.
A spokesperson for Google 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.”
Google has gone a step further than Facebook, by not just rejecting ads from organisations and individuals from outside the State, but also all relevant ads during the final weeks of the campaign.
Furthermore, Facebook are only blocking ads posted and paid for by foreign individuals and organisations, not those placed by domestic groups and campaigners.
The changes will not impact on content or search results that are returned by Google searches.
