Google Adsense allows ads on extremist sites

the main reasons of the presence of ads on extremist and fake news sites is the fact that Google removes ads only from pages and not from a whole site. In a post from May 2017, the platform announced that from now on and by default, it will remove ads from pages that violate its policies. It is explicit that is at the page level and not at the site level. Scott Spencer, Google’s sustainable ads director explained:

“As we roll out page-level policy action as the new default for content violations, we’ll be able to stop showing ads on select pages, while leaving ads up on the rest of a site’s good content.”
In concrete terms, a given brand’s ads may have been removed from pages with racist contents on an extremist site but still appear on its weather forecast section, meaning that Google provides revenues to such sites. So it is not a surprise that, in September 2017, 90% of fake news sites which are monetizing their audience through programmatic advertising are using Google Adsense (according to Storyzy statistics). Their audience represents 120M monthly visits.

Since July 2017, Storyzy spotted on these fake news sites more than 600 different brand’s ads including big names such as McDonald’s, Walmart, AT&T, Adobe, Visa, Nespresso, American Express, Verizon, Hertz, Volkswagen, Goodyear, Microsoft, Dell, Toyota…

Google Adsense content policies are clear

Google Adsense policies about ‘dangerous or derogatory content’ are clear and they are applicable at the page level:

“We believe strongly in freedom of expression, but we don’t permit monetization of dangerous or derogatory content.
However, when a brand’s ads appear on specific ‘safe’ pages of an extremist site because they do not violate Google policies, the brand is still funding both the extremist site and Google.

Is Google wrong with its rules at page level?

It is public that Breitbart news has been blacklisted by nearly 2,600 brands that had removed all their campaigns from the site since November 2016(the whole site of Breitbart and not only questionable pages). Not all content on this site is extremist, racist or false information. They removed their ads despite the fact they could appear close to articles from respectable agencies like Associated Press. For example, in the picture below you can see an AP article on Breitbart that has been blacklisted by these brands.

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European Probe Of Google AdSense Nears Conclusion

Google could be facing another possible antitrust fine after European officials confirmed they are nearing the completion of their investigation into the firm’s AdSense advertising service.

The confirmation came from Europe’s antitrust chief, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, and stems from European’s objections to the way that Google implements strict contractual terms with its advertising service (Adsense).

It raises the possibility that Google could once again be hit with a financial penalty, after the European Commission in July fined Google a record 4.3 billion euros (£3.83bn) for commercial practices related to its Android mobile operating system, the world’s highest ever antitrust penalty.

Antitrust fine?
Google was also last year fined 2.4bn euros (£2.01bn) after the Commission ruled that Google had thwarted rivals of shopping comparison websites.

The AdSense investigation however began in 2016 when the Commission accused Google of preventing third parties using its AdSense product from displaying search advertisements from Google’s competitors.

“We are approaching the end of that investigation,” Vestager was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters at the Web Summit in Lisbon when asked for an update on the investigation.

Vestager and her department has the power to fine companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover for breaching EU rules.

Staff Walkout
Google is also currently undergoing some internal tensions.

This was evidenced last week when thousands of staff around the world walked out of their offices, in a protest over the handling of sexual harassment claims by senior management.

Google boss Sundar Pichai has previously admitted that the company had fired 48 employees for sexual harassment over the past two years.

The admission from Pichai came in response to a New York Times article that alleged that Google had protected three senior executives from allegations of sexual misconduct, which allegedly included the father of Android Andy Rubin.

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Google Says Its AdSense Advertising Platform Now Speaks Hindi

Google Says Its AdSense Advertising Platform Now Speaks Hindi
Google earlier this week announced that its mobile and Web advertising network, AdSense, now supports Hindi, which it describes as one of the most widely spoken languages in India, and one that that has over 500 million speakers across the world.
The search giant, which makes a significant proportion of its revenue from ad sales, in a blog post said the move will help the AdSense platform support the "wealth of quality Hindi content" that is currently available online.

Emanuele Brandi, Product Sales Lead on behalf of the AdSense Internationalization Team, says in the blog post, "We're excited to launch AdSense Hindi language support [on Sunday] to help fuel even more quality content creation on the web, and to help advertisers connect with a rapidly growing online audience."

Brandi tells Hindi language-based site webmasters that they will now be able to earn money by displaying Google AdSense advertisements in Hindi

Google details steps webmasters have to take to begin displaying Hindi Google AdSense ads, including making sure the website is compliant with the AdSense program policies, and signing up for an AdSense account by enrolling the Hindi website. Once the account is approved, webmasters simply have to add the AdSense code to start displaying relevant ads to users

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Google Android, AdSense Probes Are Advancing: EU Antitrust Chief Margrethe Vestager

Google Android, AdSense Probes Are Advancing: EU Antitrust Chief Margrethe Vestager

Google allegedly using Android OS and AdSense to thwart rivals
European Commission opened its investigation into Android in 2015
A complaint was lodged by the lobbying group FairSearch
Investigations into how Google may be using its Android smartphone operating system and its AdSense advertising service to thwart rivals are advancing, Europe's antitrust chief said on Wednesday, amid concern about the lengthy proceedings.

The European Commission opened its investigation into Android in 2015, following a complaint two years earlier from the lobbying group FairSearch.

A 2016 document seen by Reuters said the EU competition enforcer planned to levy a large fine against the company and would order it to stop giving revenue-sharing payments to smartphone makers to pre-install only Google Search.
It is also expected to tell the company, a unit of Alphabet, to stop requiring Google's Chrome browser and other apps to be installed alongside Google's Play store. In the AdSense case, Google was accused of blocking rivals in online search advertising in 2016.

The Commission has yet to rule on either case, triggering worries among rivals and consumer groups.

We are advancing on our two cases involving Google, both the Android case and the AdSense case," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told EU lawmakers.

"Five years in the Google case seems an eternity," lawmaker Ramon Tremosa said. Echoing some of Google's rivals, he has urged Vestager to break up the company. Such a move is unlikely because of the high legal threshold.

The former Danish economy minister, who has the power to sanction companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover, handed down a record EUR 2.4 billion ($2.97 billion) fine to Google last year for squeezing out rivals of its shopping service.

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Google AdSense Policy Change: All New Sites Need to be Verified

Google AdSense Policy Change: All New Sites Need to be Verified 

Google is making a change to its AdSense policies that will require every new site to go through a verification process in order to display ads.

AdSense publishers who intend to place ads on more than one site will now have to add each individual site to their account.

Then each site will have to go through a two-part verification process.

New 2-Step Verification Process
In the first part of the verification process, AdSense publishers will have to prove that they either own the domain they wish to place ads on or have the ability to modify its content.

The second part of the process involves Google reviewing the site for compliance with its AdSense Program policies.

Once Google has reviewed a site and approved it for publishing AdSense ads it will be marked as “Ready.”

What Happens if You’re Not Approved
If Google reviewed a site and did not approve it, then it will be marked as “Needs attention.”

This will give site owners an opportunity to correct the issues that prevented their site from being approved during the first review.

What This Means for Marketers
As part of this change, the “My Sites” tab will be renamed to “Sites” and moved toward the top of the menu so it’s easier to find.

According to Google, other than the “My Sites” tab being renamed, the majority of AdSense users will not be affected at all.

Those who end up being affected will most likely be asked to help Google find the correct ad code when they add a new site.

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Google Adsense | Latest News on Google AdsenseCan a news website earn from Google AdSense

Can a news website earn from Google AdSense?
The short answer is yes, it can earn some money from AdSense.

The long answer is no. It cannot earn enough from news content to sustain a viable business model over the course of several years.

A big reason for this is because when people read news, they are not interested in clicking and buying. They are only interested in reading and learning. That means, they don’t click on ads.

Because AdSense is a pay-per-click platform, it doesn’t lend itself well to audiences not currently interested in buying. However, AdSense also delivers pay-per-view ads, but their revenue share to the publisher is very low with these ads. It’s low enough that a publisher cannot sustain itself on this income alone.

From 2004 to 2012 I ran a news publication for the City of Menifee, CA. I tried running AdSense ads, and could never generate more than $100.00 a month. And that was with my best efforts in attracting large readerships. Instead, I had to hire salesperson to go out into the community, meet business people in person, create relationships, and sell ads on a per-placement model. I was able earn enough to actually hire other writers to work for me.

At that point, I sold the publication and started a digital marketing company.

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