{"id":453,"date":"2022-03-02T15:18:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/02\/twitter-and-google-blocked-ads-from-a-medical-journal-about-health-and-racism\/"},"modified":"2022-03-02T15:18:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:18:20","slug":"twitter-and-google-blocked-ads-from-a-medical-journal-about-health-and-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/02\/twitter-and-google-blocked-ads-from-a-medical-journal-about-health-and-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitter and Google blocked ads from a medical journal about health and racism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/2\/18\/22937318\/twitter-google-ad-blocked-racism-health-journal<\/a>
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The medical journal Health Affairs<\/em> spent years planning its special issue on health and racism, which it published at the beginning of February. The journal wanted to reach new readers by promoting the issue through targeted advertisements on Twitter and YouTube. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it was so frustrating when Twitter and Google blocked its ads before they could go up, says Patti Sweet, the director of digital strategy at Health Affairs<\/em>. The journal\u2019s Google ads account was also suspended. Sweet wrote a blog post<\/a> outlining that frustration last week, saying she thought the use of the word \u201cracism\u201d was the trigger for the rejections. <\/p>\n

But Twitter and Google say the ad rejections didn\u2019t have to do with the language around racism \u2014 rather, they were blocked due to policies around advocacy and COVID-19, respectively. The confusion highlights how health research sometimes doesn\u2019t fit neatly into categories used by tech companies to flag potentially problematic content, making it challenging for them to push out credible information when certain keywords pop up. <\/p>\n

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A screenshot of the original Twitter ad that was not approved.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Health Affairs<\/em> is a reputable peer-reviewed journal widely read by people working in public health and public policy. The journal\u2019s health and racism issue, released last week, includes articles<\/a> on sexual and reproductive health of Black women in the South, racial bias in electronic health records, health and police encounters, and inequity in the use of home health agencies. It hoped to use the ads to draw in a new audience to the special issue, Sweet says. <\/p>\n

Google blocked the journal\u2019s ads because the video the advertisements were for discussed COVID-19, communications and public affairs manager Christa Muldoon told The Verge<\/em>. Ads for content that mentions COVID-19 have to follow the company\u2019s \u201csensitive events\u201d policy, which blocks ads \u201cthat potentially profit from or exploit a sensitive event.\u201d <\/p>\n

Twitter said in a statement that the ads were blocked under the \u201ccause-based\u201d policy, which requires advertisers get certified before publishing ads that \u201ceducate, raise awareness, and\/or call for people to take action in connection with civic engagement, economic growth, environmental stewardship, or social equity causes.\u201d Twitter\u2019s caused-based ad policy was put into place in November 2019<\/a> as part of its regulation of political ads aimed at protecting against bad actors co-opting the platform and covers topics from climate change to animal rights. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sweet says she\u2019s familiar with Twitter\u2019s policies but wouldn\u2019t have assumed the journal\u2019s content would fall under cause-based policy. \u201cWe\u2019re not advocating on behalf of something. We\u2019re just putting the information out there,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

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