Google Ad Manager Policy – Ad-serving Protections for Teens
Google Ad Manager Policy – Ad-serving Protections for Teens
Google is expanding ad-serving protections for teens globally. The protections will apply on Google Accounts of people above the digital age of consent but under 18 years of age (“teens”), and are in addition to protections already rolled out across Europe and Australia. With the launch of this new teen ads policy, we will:
• Disable ads personalization
• Disallow sensitive creative categories from serving
Depersonalization will occur across all products, and creative ad filtering will be applied on Ad Manager, AdSense, and AdMob. We will begin enforcing the policy August 15, 2022.
Previous protections established in response to child-directed regulations, such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC), and the Australia Online Safety Act (AU OSA), will continue to apply where relevant.
Please review this policy to understand which ad categories may be restricted for teens. While you may notice an impact on performance, there is no action required on your part.
Restricted Categories
These categories are restricted globally on Google Accounts of people above the age of consent but under 18.
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Adult and sexually suggestive content | Sexual and mature content that is intended for adult audiences. |
| Alcohol / tobacco / recreational drugs | Products such as alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs that are regulated or illegal to advertise to children. |
| Body modification and weight loss | Ads for body-modification products or services such as cosmetic procedures, weight loss, tanning, piercings, and tattoos. |
| Contests and sweepstakes | Contests or sweepstakes promotions, even if free to enter. |
| Dating and relationships | Ads for dating services, matchmakers, relationship advice, or counseling. |
| Dangerous content | Ads for products or services that are dangerous and inappropriate for users under 18 or that generally require adult supervision, such as fireworks, weapons or weapon accessories, offers related to hunting, et cetera. |
| Gambling and casino games | Ads for online or real-world gambling, lotteries, or betting. This includes offers for entertainment hosted at casinos and lodging at casino hotels. |
| Pharmaceuticals and supplements | Ads for pharmaceuticals or medications, vitamins, and nutritional supplements. |
| Shocking content | Violent, gruesome, graphic, obscene, profane, and other content that could shock or scare. |
| Speculative financial products | Contracts for difference, rolling spot forex, financial spread betting, and synonymous products. |
| Spying and arrest records | Offers for services that imply they will help spy on a partner, or find non-shared personal information about a third party. Also included are services that perform public records searches for arrest records. |
| Virtual worlds and chat rooms intended for adults | Offers for platforms or services intended for adults that primarily exist to allow users to connect and communicate with strangers. |
Google may adjust the types of ad content and formats that are restricted under its Ad-serving Protections for Teens policy as appropriate or required.
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What does this mean as a publisher?
We expect all our advertisers to follow local legal requirements when using our products, including any regulations on advertising to users under age 18, as well as all Google Ads policies.
For publishers with users based in the EEA, UK, Switzerland, or Australia, our previous safeguards continue to apply with respect to relevant local regulations.
