Google suspends all advertisements related to Irish abortion referendum

LONDON — Google is suspending all advertising connected to Ireland’s abortion referendum as part of moves to protect “election integrity,” the company announced Wednesday.

The move came a day after Facebook banned foreign-backed ads in the Irish campaign, amid global concerns about online election meddling and the role of internet ads in swaying voters.

Google said that starting Thursday, it would no longer display ads related to the May 25 vote on whether to repeal Ireland’s constitutional ban on most abortions.

The prohibition on ads connected to the Irish vote applies to both Google and YouTube, which the company owns.

The online search leader, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., declined to say how much advertising revenue it was giving up because of the decision.

The role of online ads in elections is under scrutiny after revelations that political consultancy Britainbased Cambridge Analytica harvested Facebook users’ data to micro-target political ads to select groups during the 2016 U.S. presidential race — meaning that only those most susceptible to the message would see the advertisements.

Google’s statement followed Facebook’s decision Tuesday to ban foreign advertisements around the abortion referendum.

Ireland bars political donations from abroad, but the law has not been applied to social media advertising. Anti-abortion groups based in the United States are among the organizations that have bought online ads in Ireland during the referendum campaign.

Irish lawmaker James Lawless, technology spokesman for the opposition Fianna Fail party, welcomed the moves by Google and Facebook, but said “they are rushed and they are coming at the 11th hour,” with less than two weeks until voting day.

Largely Catholic Ireland has Europe’s strictest restrictions on abortion, which is legal only when a woman’s life is in danger. Several thousand Irish women travel each year to get abortions in neighboring Britain.

Voters are being asked whether they want to retain the constitutional ban or repeal it and make parliament responsible for creating abortion laws.