Google Reportedly Earned $10 Million From ‘Fake’ Abortion Ads

The non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) released a report on the amount of money Google has earned over the last two years from misleading advertisements from “fake” abortion clinics.

CCDH used Semrush, an analytics tool, to identify “188 fake clinic websites” that had ads running on Google from March, 2021 to February 2023. An estimated 13 million users clicked on fake abortion ads during this period.

According to the report, users were directed to “crisis pregnancy centers” while searching for “abortion clinics near me” that may have attempted to talk abortion-seekers out of treatment. Also, google searches like “abortion pill,” “abortion clinic,” and “planned parenthood” also led users to crisis pregnancy centers.

Google released a statement explaining that it follows local laws regarding abortion ads and that “any advertiser targeting certain keywords or phrases related to abortions must complete a certification to confirm if it does or does not provide abortion services,” per CNN.