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Ad Protections for Children and Teens

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Document Record

What it is

The policy states that when ads may reach children and teens, ad personalization is disabled and sensitive ad content categories are restricted, and that all advertisers must comply with local legal requirements for advertising to users under 18.

This analysis describes what Google Ads's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology

ConductAtlas Analysis

Why it matters (compliance & governance perspective)

This provision establishes mandatory protections for advertising directed at or likely to reach minors, including disabling personalization features and restricting sensitive content categories, in addition to requiring advertiser compliance with local age-related advertising laws.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

Under these terms, ads served in contexts where children or teens may be present are subject to disabled personalization and restricted content categories, and advertisers are required to comply with all applicable local regulations on advertising to users under 18.

Cross-platform context

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▸ View Original Clause Language DOCUMENT RECORD
"
Our child and teen ads policies, along with other Google Ads policies (including but not limited to those for alcohol, gambling, and high fat, sugar, and salt food and beverages), work together to provide strong protections that include: Disabling ads personalization Restricting sensitive ad content and categories We require all our advertisers to follow local legal requirements when using our products, including any regulations on advertising to users under age 18, as well as all Google Ads policies.

Excerpt from Google Ads's Advertising Policies Overview

ConductAtlas Analysis

Institutional analysis (regulatory & governance intelligence)

1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision directly engages COPPA in the US, which restricts the collection and use of personal information from children under 13 in commercial contexts, with FTC enforcement authority. The EU GDPR and its member state implementations impose restrictions on processing personal data of minors. The UK Children's Code (Age Appropriate Design Code) imposes design and data protection standards for services likely to be accessed by children. Local regulations in many jurisdictions restrict advertising of alcohol, gambling, high-fat-sugar-salt foods, and other categories to minors. 2) GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. The provision establishes a policy commitment to disable personalization for minors, but the practical enforceability of this commitment depends on Google's ability to accurately identify users as minors across its network, which is an ongoing technical and regulatory challenge acknowledged broadly in the industry. Advertisers retain independent responsibility under COPPA and equivalent laws regardless of Google's platform-level protections. 3) JURISDICTION FLAGS: EU and UK jurisdictions impose the most stringent requirements for advertising to minors, with the UK Children's Code creating specific design obligations for online services. US advertisers face COPPA obligations for content directed to children under 13. State-level regulations in the US may impose additional restrictions on advertising to minors in specific product categories such as alcohol and gambling. 4) CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Advertisers in categories with age restrictions (alcohol, gambling, high-fat-sugar-salt foods, sexual content, financial products) must not target minors and are responsible under the document for ensuring their targeting configurations exclude users under applicable age thresholds. Agencies running campaigns in these categories should document targeting parameters and audience exclusions as part of compliance records. 5) COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should assess whether their campaign targeting configurations, landing pages, and creative assets are compliant with applicable minor advertising restrictions in each target jurisdiction. Organizations in food and beverage, alcohol, gambling, and financial services should conduct periodic reviews of audience targeting to verify minor exclusions are properly implemented and documented.

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Applicable agencies

  • FTC
    The FTC enforces COPPA, which governs commercial data collection and advertising practices directed at children under 13, directly relevant to this provision.
    File a complaint →

Provision details

Document information
Document
Google Ads Advertising Policies Overview
Entity
Google Ads
Document last updated
May 20, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
July 9, 2026
Last verified
July 9, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-014930
Document ID
CA-D-00854
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
Content hash (SHA-256)
f55bc76697465f7dc239391e81860193cb31afa2e7e739ec9ab70a2b699ce362
Analysis generated
July 9, 2026 06:44 UTC
Methodology
Evidence
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Hash verified
Citation Record
Entity: Google Ads
Document: Google Ads Advertising Policies Overview
Record ID: CA-P-014930
Captured: 2026-07-09 06:44:48 UTC
SHA-256: f55bc76697465f7d…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/google-ads/google-ads-advertising-policies-overview/provision/CA-P-014930/ad-protections-for-children-and-teens/
Accessed: July 24, 2026
Permanent archival reference. Stable identifier suitable for legal filings, compliance documentation, and research citation.
Classification
Severity
Medium
Categories

Other risks in this policy

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does Google Ads's Ad Protections for Children and Teens clause do?

This provision establishes mandatory protections for advertising directed at or likely to reach minors, including disabling personalization features and restricting sensitive content categories, in addition to requiring advertiser compliance with local age-related advertising laws.

How does this clause affect you?

Under these terms, ads served in contexts where children or teens may be present are subject to disabled personalization and restricted content categories, and advertisers are required to comply with all applicable local regulations on advertising to users under 18.

Is ConductAtlas affiliated with Google Ads?

No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google Ads.