Google Bans Ads For Essay-Writing Services

llamapalooza writes "Google announced that it will ban essay writing firms from advertising on their site. (The prevalence of cheating on campuses has been discussed here before.) While universities have welcomed the move, the affected firms are claiming it will 'punish legitimate businesses.' Google has specifically banned 'academic paper-writing services and the sale of pre-written essays, theses, and dissertations,' which now join other items on the banned list such as tobacco, drugs, weapons, and prostitution."

Comments

Bender Says. . .

[Apple Acolyte]

"I'll create my own search engine, with blackjack and hookers" and essay writers.

dickens was paid by the word

[User 956]

which now join other items on the banned list such as tobacco, drugs, weapons, and prostitution.

Essay writing is just a simpler form of prostitution. You know the old saying "Prose before Hos".

Re:Banned list?

[Brianech]

This isn't the same though. Ads are censored everywhere else, why should google not have the option? So you think google should serve tobacco ads that may encourage youth to smoke? There is a reason some ads are banned from tv/radio/public billboards. Like everyone is saying. They aren't censoring the web, they are merely selecting who they wish to allow to advertise with them, which is their right. This isn't about free speech or anything like that.

that explains it

[mr_musan]

> which now join other items on the banned list such as tobacco, drugs, weapons, and prostitution." i had always wondered why google adds never advertised anything i wanted

Not censorship, service to AdSense cleints

[Per Abrahamsen]

The list of banned adds reflect what Google's AdSense clients, the people who put Google adds on their web pages, are willing to put up with. Many people would be unhappy to see adds for prostitution, guns or tobacco on their web pages, and choose another advertising partner if Google let those through. Losing those partners would hurt more than losing the advertisement customers for the listed products.

Now homework cheating services are on that list.

So this is a case where maximizing profit also happens to be "do no evil" (depending on your definition of evil).

Re:'Bout Time

[martijnd]

As someone who is less than 48 hours away from a completed thesis Ph.D. thesis and a little over a week away from my defense, there is only one thing I have to say about this.

First thing that struck my mind when reading this -- you did make sure to backup recently?

Re:Prostitution?

[dwarfsoft]

To me it seems a little pointless to be banning advertising Essay writing services, especially when the google search is for "Essay writing services". Even without the paid ads, the search engine should still provide a list of businesses. Surely they are only taking a moral stance of not profiting from this kind of service rather than really inhibiting people.

Re:Just advertise the degree outright!

[TapeCutter]

"Who bothers to sell essays and dissertations when half the spam I get offers me a PhD outright for $200!"

Phd, pffft - I have the Nigerian finance minister transfering $34M dollars into my account as we speak!