Some Australian services aimed at the prevention of gambling-related harm have complained that their rehabilitation adverts are being wrongly suspended online, amid reports of an ongoing increase in gambling advertising in the country and the recent partnership between TikTok and Sportsbet.
Search engines, such as Google, and social media companies sometimes automatically block adverts where gambling is mentioned in order to comply either with some Government or watchdog regulations or their own advertising rules. Such actions are usually possible as a result of a combination of human oversight with algorithms that block certain words.
Reportedly, the adverts that automatically got suspended by Google have been part of Gambler’s Help, the treatment service offered by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation (VRGF). The Foundation has criticised some search engines and social media companies for not making a difference between gambling industry promotions and advertising materials and its program, which is aimed at minimising gambling-related harm inflicted on local customers.
A spokesperson for the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation shared that the organisation has been concerned that people at risk of being affected by gambling-related harm are actually being exposed to adverts encouraging them to place bets, while at the same time, adverts promoting professional help services for dealing with problem gambling behaviour are being suspended. What is more, this had been going on for years.
Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation Blames Google for Blocking Its Ads
Now, the spokesperson of the VRGF blamed the display and video advertising network of Google, saying it has turned into a massive problem. In addition, the Foundation has highlighted the fact that the search engine’s procedures for unblocking adverts were quite long and not as efficient as they should be.
All of these claims got disputed by a spokesperson for Google, who also noted that the international search engine has imposed some precautionary measures in place in order to make sure that adverts that were published on its platform were safe and appropriate for everyone using the search engine’s services.
Google’s spokesperson further explained in this exact case, the search engine’s systems made a mistake on the side of caution and confirmed that some of the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation adverts got accidentally blocked. However, once the search engine had become aware of the issue, its teams worked as fast as possible to make sure the adverts in question had been reinstated. The company’s representative also confirmed that the international search engine service provider was constantly working to improve the accuracy of its existing enforcement systems.
Apart from the Australian charity organisation, a US-based treatment service has also complained about a similar problem. It revealed that the ads for its problem gambling treatment program were suspended by TikTok and presented emails confirming that other services also experienced similar problems.
Only about a week ago, an employee for the video-hosting service explained that TikTok’s ad policy department and another team of the company were unable to cope with the issues preventing the US treatment service from advertising.
Sportsbet Adverts Available on TikTok Despite Gambling Advertising Ban on the Platform
For the time being, gambling adverts are not allowed on TikTok. As Casino Guardian previously reported, late in 2022 the Chinese video-hosting social media company reached an agreement with Sportsbet, allowing the gambling company to target Australian users as part of a trial that had to be carried out under stricter monitoring.
Recently, a spokesperson for TikTok explained that the gambling adverts in question were only accessible by users over 21 years of age, with the tribal being subject to strict controls. Furthermore, the frequency of the adverts was limited and the platform’s users were also able to opt out of seeing them.
The director of the Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic at the University of Sydney, Professor Sally Gainsbury, shared that social media have been getting increasingly involved with gambling advertising, with companies using them to deliver highly-targetted marketing communications to existing and potential customers. According to Professor Gainsbury, this could be considered a legitimate commercial marketing strategy but authorities need to take into account the fact that some people are finding it difficult to control their gambling habits and often fall victim to those ads.
Researchers from the University of Sydney have noted that gambling advertising acts as a trigger that encourages people to gamble. The customers who find it hard to control themselves are the ones most likely to gamble as a result of seeing such a promotion, and seeing such an ad on social media could make it even more difficult for such users to stay away from gambling, especially if it is depicted as a normal everyday activity.
- Author
Olivia Cole
