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Google Censoring Ads by Canadian Pharmacies

Ann Parsons [PersonRank 0]

Monday, March 8, 2010
14 years ago2,556 views

Has anyone else become aware that Google is now actively blocking ads by Canadian pharmacies on its search engine? See for yourself--type in the search words "Canadian pharmacy" in Google's seach bar. What do you see? More pointedly, WHAT DON'T YOU SEE? A complete absence of any sponsored links or ads on the right hand side of the search results page. Apparently, Google is blocking legitimate advertisements by licensed and verified Canadian pharmacies from being seen by American customers. Gee, why might this be? Perhaps because U.S. Big Pharma companies are pitching a fit over losing American business to Canadian competitors who sell valid prescription drugs for much more reasonable prices? I find Google's censorship of legitimate ads by Canadian pharmacies absolutely hypocritical and in violation of many tenets of the company's own stated principles, philosophy and Code of Conduct. Why does Google think it has the right to decide for me what ads I will choose to look at? It is MY responsibility to be an informed consumer, to vet any companies I do business with online, and to choose what advertisements I pay attention to and which I do not. I do not need ANY mega-U.S. corporation (THIS GOES FOR YOU, TOO, MICROSOFT--Bing and MSN Search are also delisting the Canadian pharmacies) deciding for me what I can and cannot see. I am outraged over this, and so will be millions of other Americans who buy prescription drugs online from Canada because they simply cannot afford the outrageous prices charged by U.S. Pharma companies on American soil. If Google's justification of the censorship is "It's illegal for Americans to import prescription drugs from foreign countries", then my response is "Who made you sheriff?" It is not Google's responsibility to enforce the law, it is the federal government's. If the federal Food & Drug Administration wants to start prosecuting Americans for buying drugs from Canada, LET THEM DO IT. Google has made a very poor decision to block legitimate business ads for a specific product from a specific country without good justification or explanation.

Roger Browne [PersonRank 10]

14 years ago #

Google's policy for online pharmacy ads is here:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=7463

The advertising of pharmaceuticals is regulated in just about every country, so Google may not have much wiggle room here.

The organic results still include online pharmacies from multiple countries. I wonder whether they still will in another ten years.

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