AdSense sent an email to publishers reminding them of a new policy related to the Russian war on Ukraine that could cause a reduction in earnings. The update is meant to expand on and clarify existing policy about where it’s not acceptable to show ads.
Google Pausing Monetization of Specific Content
The email sent to publishers was a reminder of a new policy surrounding content about the war on Ukraine and to expand on current policy against monetizing content
Google framed the update within the email subject line as an “Important Notice: Update regarding Ukraine.”
The notice stated:
“Due to the war in Ukraine, we will pause monetization of content that exploits, dismisses, or condones the war.
…This pause includes, but is not limited to, claims that imply victims are responsible for their own tragedy or similar instances of victim blaming, such as claims that Ukraine is committing genocide or deliberately attacking its own citizens.”
The above notice sent by email expands on the recently updated official Google Publisher Policies.
The current update to the policy that is published online simply states:
“Due to the war in Ukraine, we will pause monetization of content that exploits, dismisses, or condones the war.”
AdSense Policy is an Agreement
Participation in the AdSense program means that the publisher agrees to abide by the policies set out by the program.
Publishers that feature user generated content, such as in comments or in online forums, should be especially aware of this new policy.
Publishers who insist on hosting content that violates Google’s policy would need to remove Google AdSense from pages that host the kind of content that violates the AdSense policy.
The policy does not dictate what kind of content publishers can publish.
It only notifies publishers of what kinds of content AdSense is allowed to be displayed on.
The policy itself notes:
“Google helps to enable a free and open web by helping publishers monetize their content and advertisers reach prospective customers with useful, relevant products and services. Maintaining trust in the ads ecosystem requires setting limits on what we will monetize.”
So if your content is incompatible with those rules for what kind of content can be monetized then publishers may wish to consider removing advertising from those pages because although Google may halt monetization of the ads, Google might also terminate the AdSense account entirely.
The policy states:
“Failure to comply with these policies may result in Google blocking ads from appearing against your content, or suspending or terminating your account.”
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