The video sharing platform, YouTube, will give users the option to decide whether they want to view gambling and alcohol adverts

YouTube decided to implement this change after receiving significant feedback from current users who would ‘prefer to limit ads in certain categories,’ according to Vice President Debbie Weinstein.

Having said that, according to the Guardian, the new feature will not be able to completely remove gambling adverts from the platform but Google is confident enough that the majority of these type of adverts will stop appearing on the popular platform.

This is because adverts that appear on YouTube are ‘contextual’, meaning that if a person decides to watch a number of videos that have to do with gambling, then that user will most likely be exposed to adverts related to gambling.

A spokesperson for the UK’s gambling lobby group, the Betting and Gaming Council, added that:

“We have previously urged Google and other tech platforms to provide the option to stop seeing gambling adverts. We welcome this step in the right direction and hope to see it launch in the UK very soon.”

These changes come after concerns that harmful adverts, such as gambling and alcohol ads, were targeting demographics that would never usually be reached. Even more so during the pandemic as the amount of times these types of adverts appeared on users screens, doubled during that time.

The UK have certainly put their foot down when it comes to gambling ads. Earlier this year, the UK Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) banned celebrities and influencers from appearing in gambling advertisements in a bid to clamp down on advertising which could potentially target underage audiences. With YouTube having such a young demographic, this new block feature will certainly be welcomed by UK authorities.

Source: Guardian

About SiGMA’s revamped website:

SiGMA Group is excited to announce the launch of its newly?revamped website. The website is currently available in 6 languages, English, Russian, French, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish with plans to add another 4 languages over the coming months – namely Thai, Korean, Japanese, and Hindi.