Google Offers Alcohol and Gambling Ad Restrictions to YouTube Users

As an understanding of online advertising, remarketing and other customer acquisition tools become more mainstream social media platforms have been forced to become more customer-centric in their way of thinking.

Mark Zuckerberg has found himself before tribunals and special groups defending the practices of social-giant Facebook, specifically regarding their sharing of personal data – be it with business partners or simply across their platform as status updates.

 See Fewer Alcohol and Gambling Ads

The announced update to Google’s video-sharing platform YouTube will allow users to safeguard themselves from seeing advertising related to alcohol and casino games.

The official post on Google's blog says:

“We’ve heard feedback that some people would prefer to limit ads in certain categories like alcohol, so today, we’re launching a new control in Ad Settings, enabling people to see fewer alcohol ads, with gambling as an additional option.”

The planned rollout will take place early in 2021 and be made available to residents of the USA first. The tool to restrict these types of advertisements will be available on both YouTube and on Google itself as part of its Ad Settings feature.

High Praise from the IARD

The decision to add these specific restrictions to their ad platform has seen Google receive praise from the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD).

Albert Baladi, CEO Beam Suntory and Chair of the IARD said:

“… we are determined to set and deliver new and robust standards of marketing responsibility. This significant new feature is a very important development for our sector, and it will have a meaningful impact on people around the world as it is rolled out across Google’s platform.”

Google for their part thanked the IARD for assisting them in gaining a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the impact of and need for responsible alcohol advertising and marketing.

The Only Remaining Grey Area

The only question which remains unclarified at this point is what Google means when it says users will see fewer ads:

“This new feature is an extra step, putting the choice in the user's hands and enabling you to further control your ad experience. With a click of a button, you can choose to see fewer gambling and alcohol ads.”

Given that the aim of these controls is to protect users from potential harm due to addiction the vague use of “fewer” is not as strong as some people would have liked to see. That being said it is most likely just a legal safety net for when an unscrupulous advertiser or technical error allows an advert to be displayed to a user who has chosen to self-exclude from a specific type of advertisement.