Rcourt64
05-23-2012, 08:24 PM
PUBLISHED: 23:08 GMT, 23 May 2012 |
A google executive claimed yesterday to have ‘no idea’ how much money the search giant makes from advertising alongside online pornography which can be viewed by children.
Sarah Hunter, head of UK public policy for the company, pleaded ignorance during a debate hosted by Google on whether to block porn on the internet to protect youngsters.
A spokesman for the firm later said: ‘We do not break out our revenues for any area.’
But it is clear that Google makes thousands of pounds per day from paid-for advertising alongside search results after a user keys in a word such as ‘porn’ on the British site.
Google’s own AdWords programme, designed to help advertisers work out how much it will cost to buy the top advert next to a key word such as porn, indicates it will cost as much as £8,000 a day.
Adverts further down the list cost less, but Google’s British profits would clearly run to thousands from ads placed next to every word associated with pornography. Worldwide profits would be far more.
Mrs Hunter told the Google Big Tent media event yesterday in Hertfordshire that the responsibility for protecting children from pornography on the internet lies solely with parents.
Her comments fly in the face of a Daily Mail campaign to protect children by blocking internet porn from computers unless an adult user specifically opts in and elects to see the content.
Google has nearly total domination of the search engine market and is in a position to filter out adult content for all searches, but it refuses to do so as it insists it is a parental responsibility.
Campaigners suggested one reason for Google’s insistence that children’s internet use is the responsibility of their parents is the amount of money the search giant makes from porn advertising.
Daily Mail columnist Amanda Platell argued that the internet was ‘full of the most debasing sado-masochistic pornography that no child should ever see’ and said an opt-in policy was the best option.
But Mrs Hunter, a former adviser to Tony Blair on media issues, warned that legislation to filter pornography on the internet was a ‘mistake, absolutely’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2149049/Ive-idea-money-make-advertising-alongside-porn-says-Google-chief.html#ixzz1vk3O9tW0 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2149049/Ive-idea-money-make-advertising-alongside-porn-says-Google-chief.html#ixzz1vk3O9tW0)
A google executive claimed yesterday to have ‘no idea’ how much money the search giant makes from advertising alongside online pornography which can be viewed by children.
Sarah Hunter, head of UK public policy for the company, pleaded ignorance during a debate hosted by Google on whether to block porn on the internet to protect youngsters.
A spokesman for the firm later said: ‘We do not break out our revenues for any area.’
But it is clear that Google makes thousands of pounds per day from paid-for advertising alongside search results after a user keys in a word such as ‘porn’ on the British site.
Google’s own AdWords programme, designed to help advertisers work out how much it will cost to buy the top advert next to a key word such as porn, indicates it will cost as much as £8,000 a day.
Adverts further down the list cost less, but Google’s British profits would clearly run to thousands from ads placed next to every word associated with pornography. Worldwide profits would be far more.
Mrs Hunter told the Google Big Tent media event yesterday in Hertfordshire that the responsibility for protecting children from pornography on the internet lies solely with parents.
Her comments fly in the face of a Daily Mail campaign to protect children by blocking internet porn from computers unless an adult user specifically opts in and elects to see the content.
Google has nearly total domination of the search engine market and is in a position to filter out adult content for all searches, but it refuses to do so as it insists it is a parental responsibility.
Campaigners suggested one reason for Google’s insistence that children’s internet use is the responsibility of their parents is the amount of money the search giant makes from porn advertising.
Daily Mail columnist Amanda Platell argued that the internet was ‘full of the most debasing sado-masochistic pornography that no child should ever see’ and said an opt-in policy was the best option.
But Mrs Hunter, a former adviser to Tony Blair on media issues, warned that legislation to filter pornography on the internet was a ‘mistake, absolutely’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2149049/Ive-idea-money-make-advertising-alongside-porn-says-Google-chief.html#ixzz1vk3O9tW0 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2149049/Ive-idea-money-make-advertising-alongside-porn-says-Google-chief.html#ixzz1vk3O9tW0)