"Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington, thinks that though this isn’t the first effort Google has made to curb what it deems dangerous advertising (even within the financial sector) it’s a substantial one that will have an effect for both consumers and payday lenders. “It’s one thing to have a bunch of lawmakers take a stand. It’s quite another to have the main search engine not carry ads,” Calo says. “It has a signaling function. Google advertises all kinds of things, but to say, ‘No, not this,’ it’s really taking a stand.” And being excluded from Google’s ads will hurt these lenders’ in real ways. “The reason Google is such a large, powerful lucrative company is because displaying ads alongside search results works,” he told me. Still, he is cognizant that some fear that Google is overreaching, and that by removing these ads they are wading into paternalistic territory. But Calo argues that in this case, that fear isn’t founded. “There’s a big difference between deciding not to carry payday lending ads and downgrading links [in search results],” he says."
- Date Published:05/11/2016
- Original Publication:The Atlantic