Gambling help services have ads blocked by Google and TikTok

The Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation has raised complaints that its online ads are being automatically blocked by Google and TikTok.

The foundation says that its responsible gambling messages are not differentiated from gambling industry promotions and are therefore blocked online.

READ: ACMA reveals gambling ad complaints almost double

The search engine and social media companies use algorithms and human oversight to automatically block certain adverts. 

“The foundation’s concern is that people who are at risk of gambling harm are being exposed to ads that encourage them to gamble while ads for help service are being blocked. This has been an ongoing issue for years,” a VRGF spokesperson said.

“This has become such a problem with Google’s display and video advertising network that the foundation no longer buys this inventory.”

While responding to the accusations, a Google spokesperson said the precautions were set in place to “keep ads safe for everyone”.
 
“In this instance our system erred strongly on the side of caution and inadvertently blocked some ads from this advertiser. Once we became aware of this, we worked quickly to have these ads reinstated,” the spokesperson said.

A TikTok spokesman said gambling ads were shown only to users aged 21 and above and were closely monitored, and that users can also opt out of seeing them.

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