WHAT AN UNHEALTHY RACKET
Revealed, how Google profits from ads which deliberately target the sick and desperate
‘It must stop snake-oil salesmen’
GOOGLE auctions advertising space to firms selling bogus medicines so they can target users with life-threatening illnesses, the Daily Mail reveals today.
Companies pay Google so their adverts appear first on searches such as ‘how to beat cancer’.
And experts say that many of the medical treatments sold by these advertisers would put patients at serious risk.
Others targeted include sufferers of HIV and mental-health problems.
Firms that sell diet pills also pay the search engine so that their adverts are prominent when insecure girls type in the phrase: ‘Weight loss for teens.’
And money-lenders pay a premium to target needy Britons searching for ‘no credit check loans’.
Google makes huge profits selling this advertising space based on these specific search terms used by desperate people.
Last night campaigners accused Google of ‘mugging the most vulnerable members of our society, those who are clinging to life and desperate for hope’.
It comes amid growing fury at Google’s links to vile content online. The technology giant has previously been found to profit from hate speech on its YouTube video site.
The Conservative manifesto pledges to crack down on social-media sites ‘to protect the vulnerable and give people confidence to use the internet without fear of abuse, criminality or exposure to horrific content’.
Advertising space on the search engine is sold through auction, with companies bidding to appear top of search results – then paying Google each time their link is clicked on.
A Mail reporter signed up as a potential advertiser with Google.
He found that the site was looking for advertisers targeting Britons with ‘health conditions and concerns’, including cancer, depression, eating disorders, Aids and HIV, vision loss, dementia, diabetes, menopause and learning disabilities.
Firms bid about £1.30 per click for their products or services to appear first under the search phrase: ‘How to beat cancer.’
This means the prominent adverts under these results included one for an Indian firm promising to ‘fight cancer with herbs’ – using supplements made from ginger, gooseberry and aloe vera.
But experts believe the treatment could actually harm patients’ chances of beating the disease.
Other alternative medicine companies bid about £2 per click for their adverts to appear on searches for ‘natural cures for cancer’.
The advertisements that appeared for this promised cures without chemotherapy at clinics in Mexico and Germany.
And Google also profits from searches by those suffering mentalhealth problems.
Companies bid to pay the technology giant about 83p per click to have their adverts appear when Britons search for ‘anxiety relief’.
This means the top results for this search on Google are adverts trying
to sell herbal remedies. Experts say that the pills can be extremely dangerous as there is no proof that they work and so they could prevent or delay people with mentalhealth problems seeking proper medical help.
Terms auctioned to unscrupulous weight-loss pill companies for about £1 per click include: ‘weight loss for teens’, ‘weight loss pills for teenage girl’, ‘safe weight loss pills’ and ‘quick weight loss pills’.
Others who are targeted by the adverts include those worried about memory loss and older men with erectile dysfunction.
Payday loan companies spend up to £6.85 per click to appear first when people in financial trouble search Google for ‘payday loan’, ‘quick loans’ and ‘payday loans no credit check’.
Last night Conservative candidate for Totnes Dr Sarah Wollaston, an ex-GP and former chairman of the Commons health select committee, said: ‘Google should not duck responsibility for the content of adverts, especially those targeting vulnerable people with quack remedies.’
Pharmacist Sultan Dajani, who is also spokesman for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, added: ‘Information technology was meant to be a tool for empowering and enabling information but here it is being used to mug the most vulnerable members of our society, those who are clinging to life and desperate for hope.
‘Google has a moral duty to take a more professional, ethical and responsible approach. It must stop snake-oil salesmen benefiting and profiteering from others’ misery.’
Former minister Baroness Altmann, a finance campaigner, said: ‘It really does seem disappointing that a firm such as Google would want to profit from promoting such ruinously expensive loans to potentially vulnerable people, desperate to borrow money.’
Google has faced criticism for its links to dangerous content online. After the Westminster atrocity in March, the Mail revealed that jihadi guides to mounting a car terror attack could be found in seconds using the search engine.
After being contacted by the Mail, Google removed alternative medicine adverts that we found which targeted people with cancer and HIV, women going through the menopause and teenagers looking for weight loss pills. It is reviewing payday loan adverts.
But other adverts that were flagged by the Mail – including those targeting people with anxiety and memory loss – remained on Google, as they were not deemed to break company policies. Google says that it has strict rules for healthcare advertisers banning false claims and any advertisements found to have broken these policies are removed.
The firm says it uses a third-party firm to monitor advert results and has banned adverts from payday loan firms that demand repayment within 60 days.
A spokesman added: ‘We have a set of strict policies which govern what ads we allow on Google.
‘We do not allow ads that promote false or misleading health claims and quickly take action when we discover ads that break our policies.’