Google’s restrictions on food marketing to minors

In August 2020, Google announced an update to its advertising policy for food and beverages high in fat, sugar or salt (‘HFSS’) in the EU and UK. Starting on 6 October 2020, ads for food and beverage products that do not meet Google’s own nutrition criteria will not be served to users under the age of 18 or users who are not signed in.

This policy applies on the Google Display Network and YouTube, in the EU and the UK. The move was motivated by regulatory pressures and particularly the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which calls on video-sharing platforms to work to reduce children’s exposure to ‘HFSS’ marketing.

This follows a ban, since January this year, on all food and beverage advertising around “Made for Kids” content on YouTube main.

An overview of Google’s food marketing policies can be downloaded here.
See here for a comparative overview of Google’s nutrition criteria versus the EU Pledge nutrition criteria.