Paresh David

(Reuters) – Alphabet NASDAQ: Inc. Google stated this week it will improve its enforcement of an aged-sensitive ad program after Reuters identified ads that promote sex toys, alcohol and high-risk investment in its search engine. This was in response to UK regulations.

The United Kingdom began to enforce regulations in September that were designed to prevent children being tracked online. Google responded by changing settings in its online services across Europe for children under the age of 18 years. It also announced that it was expanding safeguards to stop age-sensitive ads from being displayed to teenagers.

The search engine giant started using automatic tools to block ads that were related to prescription drugs, alcohol and gambling from being shown to those who weren’t logged into their Google accounts or verified to be 18 years old.

Companies in tech face an increasing challenge when it comes to policing the sprawling services they offer. According to two online advertisers and posts on forums, Google has had a patchy record of enforcement.

Anonymity was requested by the advertisers out of concern of being retaliated from Google. They claimed that they were frustrated at losing significant sales because Google’s search engine incorrectly blocked their ads from sign-out users, but allowed their competition’s ads.

Reuters discovered that ads were displayed in the UK for leveraged trading and cholesterol medication to sign out users.

Google stated that they have policies which limit the age sensitive ads categories we display. The ads were incorrectly labeled, and should not have been served. “We are immediately taking steps to resolve this problem.”

The company declined to provide further details.

Google Advertising Rivals: Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook (NASDAQ) Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ) – They either have banned age sensitive ads entirely or made it mandatory for advertisers that they target ads so as to minimize exposure to minors. Microsoft and Facebook didn’t immediately reply to inquiries for comment.

Online services must comply with the UK Children’s Code, which requires that they meet certain privacy and design standards. This is to ensure children’s safety. Google claimed that it is essential to comply with the code by filtering age-sensitive advertisements.

5Rights Foundation, an advocacy group, discovered its own cases of medication and dating advertisements on a logged off browser, after looking at Reuters’ findings. According to the group, tech companies need to regularly share internal research about how they’re living upto the code and following their policies.

“We must be wary of ‘safety washing,'” 5Rights said. “Tech companies should back their claims with actions and show how they comply with regulations, especially in the early phases of implementation.”

Google declined to respond. Google did not respond to the comments.

According to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, it had in November reached out and reviewed compliance to the code to Google, Apple Inc (NASDAQ :), and other gaming, social media and streaming companies. According to the privacy regulator, the review continues.