"Google email shows it ruled Israel’s ads claiming ‘There is food in Gaza’ aren’t misleading" 15 October 2025

In August, two days after the U.N.-backed global hunger monitor declared a rapidly spreading famine in the Gaza City region, Israel’s Foreign Ministry posted a YouTube video that made an opposite claim: “Cynical politicians and biased media are lying.”...Israel’s government paid to promote the video in three languages, and it has been viewed more than 7 million times in English, according to the Foreign Ministry’s YouTube channel. The video was last shown as an advertisement on Aug...
The online campaign has drawn a large number of complaints alleging the ads are spreading misinformation, including from multiple government authorities ...The email was sent by a member of Google’s Trust and Safety team, which monitors and enforces the company’s content policies. Those include a rule that prohibits ads that “deceive users by excluding relevant product information or providing misleading information,” according to the company’s website...Despite the complaints filed against Israel’s videos about food access in Gaza, they remain online. According to the internal Google email, that’s where they will stay...

Employees were advised that any future video ads from Israel’s government making similar claims about food, famine or humanitarian aid in Gaza are “not in scope” of those policies and as such don’t constitute violations...The Israeli government did not respond to a request for comment...Michael Aciman, a spokesman for Google, said in an emailed statement that the company has “clear policies that govern the types of ads we allow on our platforms and our teams are constantly examining how those policies apply to current events.”...
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