Google has announced an update to its AdWords terms and conditions that will ban advertising for some lending products on Google.
The update will go into effect on July 13 this year, at which point the Internet giant will ban payday loans and other predatory financial “services” from its online channels. These include loans with repayment dates that fall within 60 days of being issued. Loans with an annual percentage rate (APR) of 36 percent or more will also be phased out.
“When reviewing our policies, research has shown that these loans can result in unaffordable payment and high default rates for users so we will be updating our policies globally to reflect that,” said David Graff, director of global product policy at Google, in a blog post.
Google previously revealed that it had blocked 780 million ads in 2105, up 50 percent from the year before, for reasons from phishing scams to counterfeiting.This won’t affect countless other loans that are advertised through Google, including mortgages, student loans, car loans, and credit cards.
“When ads are good, they connect people to interesting, useful brands, businesses and products,” added Graff. “Unfortunately, not all ads are — some are for fake or harmful products, or seek to mislead users about the businesses they represent.”
Google has previously faced the heat from regulators over spurious ads for payday loans, which offer small amounts of money with a high interest rate attached, normally to be repaid when the borrower is next paid. At the time of writing, Google’s AdWords policy on such products states:
Source: Venturebeat
