The policy prohibits the use of sensitive personal data categories, including health status, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political affiliation, racial or ethnic origin, and financial difficulties, for personalized ad targeting through Google's platforms.
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
This provision restricts advertiser use of sensitive data categories for audience targeting, establishing platform-level limitations on targeting functionality that interact with data protection law prohibitions on processing sensitive personal data.
The agreement prohibits advertisers from using health conditions, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political affiliation, racial or ethnic origin, or financial difficulties as targeting criteria for personalized ads. This restriction applies to both first-party and Google-provided audience targeting mechanisms.
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"Personalized advertising: Google's personalized advertising products allow advertisers to reach people based on their interests and previous interactions. Certain categories of personal data are not permitted to be used for ad targeting, including sensitive categories such as: health conditions, sexual behavior or orientation, religious beliefs, political affiliations, racial or ethnic origin, and financial difficulties.Excerpt from Google Ads's Advertising Policies Overview
1) REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision directly engages GDPR Article 9, which prohibits processing of special category personal data including health data, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and political opinions without explicit consent …
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This provision restricts advertiser use of sensitive data categories for audience targeting, establishing platform-level limitations on targeting functionality that interact with data protection law prohibitions on processing sensitive personal data.
The agreement prohibits advertisers from using health conditions, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political affiliation, racial or ethnic origin, or financial difficulties as targeting criteria for personalized ads. This restriction applies to both first-party and Google-provided audience targeting mechanisms.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 290 platforms. See the full comparison.
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