An executive with a Lutheran publishing house says Google will no longer allow ads related to the publisher’s site “because of the faith we express.”
Bruce Kintz, CEO of Concordia Publishing House, said on his Facebook page this week that the organization was told that Google’s online ad service will not accept the CPH website because of some religious items on the page.
“[A CPH staff member] was told, as an example, that things like our bible challenge on our VBS webpage would clearly need to come down before they could consider us for ads,” Kintz said.
A Google spokesperson told The Christian Post that Google “welcomes advertising from religiously-affiliated institutions, including Christian organizations.”
The spokesperson said Google does have policies in place that “protect user privacy.” The policy restricts how advertisers can use data to personalize ads for users.
“We prohibit advertisers from using sensitive data such as race, religious affiliation, political affiliation or sexual orientation to show ads to users,” a statement from Google reads.
“Advertisers can’t use identity and belief categories to target ads to users or to promote advertisers’ products or services,” according to the policy.
The publishing house, however, says the ads that were rejected were “Remarketing ads,” where people who visit your site, but do not buy anything are later shown ads from that website.
The publishing house says they were told to remove any references to Jesus or the Bible to use Google ad products, including the Remarketing ad
“It continues to be CPH’s mission to share God’s Word with all Christians who are seeking faithful resources to support their faith. CPH will not be deterred by Google’s actions in this instance but will seek all available avenues to connect people to Christ.”
Kintz said the decision by Google was “incredibly sobering and disappointing.”
“It is an uphill battle but our mission and customers are worth it,” he stressed. “It is why we are here.”
Photo courtesy: Pixabay.com
Publication date: April 25, 2018
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