The Brazilian I’m looking at now seems dubious to me. I’d say the buttocks are exactly 50 percent covered. I bring along a colleague who has mastered the intricacies of reviewing Google ads. Her name is Inês, she’s been working here for two years and easily hits the daily ‘soft target’ of five hundred classified ads a day. Internal audits show that she makes the right judgment in 98 percent of cases.
SR – Severely restricted, judges with a glance at my screen.
And through. One done, 499 left.
You might think: what’s the difference between 49 and 50 percent butt coverage? And to be honest, I think I do regularly over the nine weeks I’ve been professionally looking at Google ads. But it depends quite a bit on my judgement. The label I give this ad determines its reach. Family Safe Google ads can be shown everywhere: of course on google.com itself, but also on YouTube and on apps and websites that earn (partly) from advertising, such as this newspaper’s (see box). But a Severely Restricted ad is almost never shown anywhere. To see them, search result restrictions must be turned off and your search history must be set to “porn” – and forget about posting on YouTube, apps and websites altogether. With the Severely Restricted label, a conventional lingerie ad, like the one I’m currently looking at, doesn’t stand a chance. Sorry advertiser, Google says no.
The room I’m in is called production room: row upon row of identical computer screens, a view of a blank wall, cameras in the suspended ceiling watching things. No picture frames on desks, no posters on walls. This determines which Google ads you and I will see. Or rather: not see. And then it’s not just a question of whether we, Google users, are offended by a pair of half-naked buttocks, but also whether we may be exposed to violence or Hate speechwhat oversight should be exercised over clickbait and gambling, and whether advertising for political candidates, soft drugs, weapons, medicines or cryptocurrencies is permitted.
Of course, Google is a private company that can basically decide which ads it will show or not. But Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is the fourth largest company in the world and has an unimaginable influence on the lives of billions of people. Just think: who can live without Google, Google Maps, Gmail or YouTube? All of these services (free for users) are mainly paid for by advertising revenue. In 2023, this amounted to no less than 237 billion dollars, out of a total turnover of 307 billion. Thirty billion Google ads are shown worldwide every day, and are clicked on approximately 240 million times. Every day again.
