For years, Google has faced complaints that its platform enables so-called crisis pregnancy centers, which oppose abortion, to masquerade as abortion providers in an effort to dissuade women from seeking the procedure. The new certification process is meant to make plain exactly what services an advertiser provides. The ads suggested that Obria, which does not perform abortions and tries to persuade women not to end their pregnancies, offered abortion services. “The idea that we’re moving toward verification around advertising shouldn’t be controversial in any way,” said Joan Donovan, an expert on misinformation who heads the Technology and Social Change Research Project at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. Last year, ahead of a referendum on abortion in Ireland, Google suspended all ads related to the vote.

Source: New York Times May 21, 2019 18:48 UTC