Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. In the days leading up to and on the anniversary, Google appears to have provided free advertising to a group promoting 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Ads viewed by AdTechRadar in Google’s Ads Transparency Center show the International Center for 9/11 Studies running campaigns that questions the accepted account of the attacks. One ad, for example, asks: “The Untold 9/11 Story – Was it a Planned Fall?”
The ad, according to the Transparency Center, was funded through Google Ad Grants, a program that gives eligible nonprofits free search advertising credits.
Why This Matters:
There are two issues here.
First, there’s the question of whether Google should allow ads promoting 9/11 conspiracy theories at all. It’s not clear if these ads violate Google’s TOS or policies. But allowing paid promotion that questions the circumstances of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in U.S. history — particularly on its anniversary — at least seems to violate norms around responsible advertising. (This wouldn’t be the first time Google has been accused of allowing 9/11 conspiracy theories to be promoted through its services.)
More notable, however, is that Google wasn’t simply accepting money to run the ads — it was subsidizing them. Google Ad Grants gives “qualifying” nonprofits up to $10,000 per month in free search ad credits. In this case, Google’s own program helped an organization distribute content asking whether the 9/11 attacks involved a “planned fall” — a longstanding conspiracy theory that claims the World Trade Center was brought down through a pre-planned/controlled demolition.
Experts React:
According to Google‘s website, “Google Ad Grants helps nonprofits share their causes with the world,” adding that nonprofits use the program “to drive awareness, attract donations, recruit volunteers, and much more.”
Google appears to partner with third-party provider Goodstack to verify nonprofits participating in the program. Should the International Center for 9/11 Studies have qualified for the program in the first place? It would be interesting to understand the rationale here.
Our Take:
Some perspective is important, of course. AdTechRadar found only three ads from the organization, all of which ran for multiple days this week, including on September 11. The Ads Transparency Center doesn’t show how many people actually saw them, so this was likely an extremely limited campaign that slipped through the cracks of a massive ad platform.
Still, the subsidy makes the situation harder to dismiss. There’s a meaningful difference between Google allowing controversial advertising on its platform and Google providing in-kind credits that pay for its distribution.
