Google has fixed an error in its system that was blocking ads from abortion clinics.
Clinics across Australia had complained to the tech giant about the problem after noticing a drop in traffic to their websites last week.
Jacquie O’Brien, director of public affairs and policy at Marie Stopes Australia, says the clinic noticed a decline in visits and a quick Google search returned no ads from abortion clinics.
Google had told providers there were no changes to its ad policy and later identified a temporary technical issue.
“Abortion ads are allowed to run in Australia. We identified a temporary issue affecting some advertisers in Australia, but the issue is now fixed,” a Google spokesperson says.
O’Brien says providers had suspected they had been swept up in Google’s changes to abortion ads in other countries.
The changes made earlier this year mean that advertisers in the UK, US and Ireland now have to seek approval from the tech company before posting an ad about abortion.
While O’Brien says the tech company responded swiftly this time, it isn’t the first time they’ve had issues with it over advertising around abortions.
“It’s really not satisfying,” O’Brien says. “If they’re going to put these restrictions in place they should have a channel for providers to contact them.”
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