Our policy
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Google values diversity and respect for others, and we strive to avoid offending customers, so we don’t allow free listings or destinations that display shocking content or promote hatred, intolerance, discrimination, or violence.
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Examples of what's not allowed
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Dangerous or derogatory content
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Content that incites hatred against, promotes discrimination of, or disparages an individual or group on the basis of their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization
- Examples: Content promoting hate groups or hate group paraphernalia, content that encourages others to believe that a person or group is inhuman, inferior, or worthy of being hated
Content that incites hatred against, promotes discrimination of, or disparages an individual or group on the basis of their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization
Content that harasses, intimidates or bullies an individual or group of individuals
- Examples: Content that singles out someone for abuse or harassment
Content that harasses, intimidates or bullies an individual or group of individuals
Content that threatens or advocates for physical or mental harm on oneself or others
Examples: Content advocating suicide, anorexia, or other self-harm; promoting or advocating for harmful health or medical claims or practices; threatening someone with real-life harm or calling for the attack of another person; promoting, glorifying, or condoning violence against others, content made by or in support of terrorist groups or transnational drug trafficking organizations, or content that promotes terrorist acts, including recruitment, or that celebrates attacks by transnational drug trafficking or terrorist organizations
Content that threatens or advocates for physical or mental harm on oneself or others|
Shocking content
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- Examples: Crime scene or accident photos, execution photos
- Examples: Blood, guts, gore, sexual fluids, human eggs or sperm
A "Sensitive Event" is an unforeseen event or development that creates significant risk to Google's ability to provide high quality, relevant information and ground truth, and reduce insensitive or exploitative content in prominent features. During a Sensitive Event, we may take a variety of actions to address these risks.
Examples of Sensitive Events include events with significant social, cultural, or political impact, such as civil emergencies, natural disasters, public health emergencies, terrorism and related activities, conflict, or mass acts of violence.
Examples of what we prohibit (non-exhaustive):
Products that exploit, dismiss, or condone the Sensitive Event, including price gouging or artificially inflating prices that prohibits/restricts access to vital supplies; offers for products which may be insufficient for the demand during a Sensitive Event
Products that exploit, dismiss, or condone the Sensitive Event, including price gouging or artificially inflating prices that prohibits/restricts access to vital supplies; offers for products which may be insufficient for the demand during a Sensitive Event
- Examples: Promoting animal cruelty for entertainment purposes, such as cock or dog fighting
- Examples: Sale of shark fins or shark cartilage supplements, elephant ivory, tiger skins, rhino horn, dolphin oil, and elkhorn coral, or products containing these ingredients
What you can do
To verify if the system has correctly tagged or overflagged a product, check the SOP which outlines when to process a review. Here's what you can do if your product is disapproved or if your Merchant Center account is impacted:
Products that don't comply with our policies may be disapproved. When a product is disapproved, it won't be eligible to serve.
- Read our policies to learn what we don't allow.
- Update your website. If your ad or listing leads to content that violates a policy, update your website to meet the requirements and be in compliance with our policies.
- Remove the violating products from your product data. You’ll receive an email with details about the violation.;
- If you have products in your product data that violate the policy (or policies), you'll need to remove the offers from your feed.
- Update your product data in Merchant Center. If you created a schedule for automatic uploads, update your product data manually or wait for your product data to be automatically updated before requesting any reviews.
- Request a review of your products or appeal the decision taken on this issue.
- If the violating products are removed, you won't need to request a review or take any additional action.
- If you fix your product-level issues by editing your product data via your chosen upload method (such as a file) or directly in Merchant Center, your products will be re-reviewed.
- For certain issues, you can disagree with the issue but you may need to complete additional steps such as provide an appeal reason and/or upload required documentation.
- If you use a third-party platform to list your products, you can refer to your third-party if you want to request a review. You won’t be able to do this in Merchant Center.
- If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center.
For most violations, we'll send you a warning email detailing the policy violation and give you 7 or 28 calendar days to fix your issue. However, a warning may not be issued for egregious policy violations.
- Read our policies to learn what we don't allow.
- Update your website. If your ad or listing leads to content that violates a policy, update your website to meet the requirements and be in compliance with our policies.
- Remove any violating products from your product data. You’ll receive an email with details about the violation. If you have products in your product data that violate the policy (or policies) you'll need to remove the offers from your feed.
- Update your data in Merchant Center.
- Review your account and submit any missing information or complete any unfinished steps.
- If you created a schedule for automatic uploads, update your product data manually or wait for your product data to be automatically updated before requesting any reviews.
- Make sure that your linked or associated account is issue-free before requesting a Merchant Center review. Learn more about how to fix Linked account suspensions.
- Request a review of your account or appeal the decision taken on this issue.
- If your account is still within the warning period, it will automatically be reviewed again at the end of the warning period. If the violating products are removed, you won't need to request an account review or take any additional action.
- If your account is suspended and you've taken actions to resolve the issue, request an account review.
- For certain issues, you can disagree with the issue but you may need to complete additional steps such as provide an appeal reason and/or upload required documentation.
- If you use a third-party platform to list your products, you can refer to your third-party if you want to request a review. You won’t be able to do this in Merchant Center.
Note: Account reviews typically take 7 business days, but may take longer for complex reviews. If you remove violating products, the warning will be removed. If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center. In the case of account suspension, we will approve the account and allow products to be displayed again.
Your account has an issue and is operating with reserved functionality, therefore your products have limited visibility. An email was sent with a notice on what to do and the steps needed to resolve your account issue.
- Read our policies to learn more about our requirements.
- Update your website. If your ad or listing leads to content that violates a policy, update your website to meet the requirements and be in compliance with our policies.
- Fix any other open policy violation in your account. Review your products and your account details.
- If products aren’t supported, remove them from your feed.
- If account details are missing, complete them in Merchant Center.
- Request a review of your account or appeal the decision taken on this issue.
- If your Merchant Center account is still within the warning period for certain policies, it will automatically be reviewed again at the end of the warning period.
- If your account is affected and you've resolved the issue, request a Merchant Center account review.
- For certain issues, you can disagree with the issue but you may need to complete additional steps such as provide an appeal reason and/or upload required documentation.
- If you use a third-party platform to list your products, you can refer to your third-party if you want to request a review. You won’t be able to do this in Merchant Center.
Note: Account reviews typically take 7 business days, but may take longer for complex reviews. If you remove violating products, the warning will be removed. If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center. In the case of account suspension, we will approve the account and allow products to be displayed again.