The medical journal Health Affairs spent years curating its special issue on health and racism, which was published in early February. The magazine hopes to attract new readers by promoting the issue with targeted ads on Twitter and YouTube.
That’s why it’s so frustrating when Twitter and Google block their ads before they go live, says Patti Sweet, head of digital strategy at Health Matters. The magazine’s Google Ads account was also suspended. Sweet wrote a blog post last week outlining the frustration, saying she believes the use of the word “racist” is what led to the ad being rejected.
But Twitter and Google said the ads were blocked for nothing to do with language surrounding racism — instead, they were blocked because of policies surrounding propaganda and COVID-19, respectively.
Get caught up today on @Health_Affairs' February 2022 issue! Racism is the reason for large, sustained health inequities in the US. The Health Affairs February issue is dedicated to #RacismAndHealth w/ an emphasis on structural racism.
Read more here: https://t.co/yfeax6Dg5N pic.twitter.com/OYxqozLHYL
— Health Affairs (@Health_Affairs) February 18, 2022
The confusion highlights that health research sometimes doesn’t quite fit into the categories tech companies use to flag potentially problematic content, making it challenging for them to push out credible information when certain keywords come up.
Health Affairs is a prestigious peer-reviewed journal widely read by those working in public health and public policy. The journal’s health and racism issues, published last week, include articles on sexual and reproductive health among black women in the American South, racial bias in electronic health records, health and police encounters, and inequities in the use of home health agencies. Sweet said it hopes to use the ads to attract new readers to the special issue.
Google blocked the magazine’s ad because the ad’s video discussed COVID-19, communications and public affairs manager Christa Muldoon told The Verge. Ads mentioning COVID-19 must follow the company’s “Sensitive Events” policy, which blocks ads that “may profit from or exploit sensitive events.”
In a statement, Twitter said the ads were blocked based on a “cause-based” policy that requires advertisers to post ” education, awareness, or calls for action related to civic engagement, economic growth, environmental stewardship or social equity “. Career-Related Actions” before getting certified. Twitter’s “reason-based” advertising policy was introduced in November 2019 as part of its oversight of political advertising to prevent bad actors from pooling the platform, covering topics from climate change to animal rights.
Sweet said she was familiar with Twitter’s policy, but would not consider the magazine’s content to fall under a “cause-based” policy. “We’re not advertising on behalf of anything. We’re just putting information out there,” she said.
Health Matters also received a notice for an ad that was removed by Twitter under its “inappropriate content” policy, according to screenshots Sweet shared with The Verge. The ad, similar to the one flagged under the cause-based policy, describes how the special issue focuses on racism and health issues.
In an email to The Verge, Twitter spokeswoman Laura Pacas said any ad will be rejected under the same cause-based policy.
Sweet said she thinks tech companies’ advertising policies are important, but they apply unfairly to small groups like Health Matters. She couldn’t reach out to the folks at Twitter or Google as easily as she could at a large media agency to resolve the issue quickly.
As a result, it was difficult for her to get information from these companies about the ads being blocked. Sweet also argues that Health Matters doesn’t even fall into the kind of propaganda that Twitter’s policy is targeting.
“We’re not a political organization, but when a machine sees ‘health policy,’ they might think it’s politics,” Sweet said. “And when they see us talking about racism and health, they might think we’re advocating for politicians. So, the brand is embarrassingly in a place of nothingness.”
Health Matters received cause-based Twitter certification this week and plan to resubmit its ad. After she filed her appeal, Sweet said, Google’s ad account was also reopened. She hopes her team can now refocus on research rather than conflict with tech companies.
“We can’t share it with the world like we want to,” she said. “Instead, we’re talking about Google and Twitter.”