Google allows advertisers to target the sensitive informational queries of cancer patients

Marco Zenone, Alessandro Marcon, Nora Kenworthy, May van Schalkwyk, Timothy Caulfield, Greg Hartwell, Nason Maani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Alternative cancer treatments are associated with earlier time to death when used without evidence-based treatments. Our study suggests alternative cancer clinics providing scientifically unsupported cancer treatments spent an estimated $15,839,504 on Google ads from 2012 to 2023 targeting users in the United States. The ads led to an estimated 6,717,663 website visits. Paid traffic constituted 44.4% of all website traffic. Advertisers targeted cancer patients using Google’s keyword matching feature which matches ad keywords to the searches of Google users.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-14
Number of pages14
JournalHarvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review
Volume5
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Dec 2024

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • 035 unique emulated searches on cancer prognosis
  • 20
  • accessing treatment
  • alternative treatments
  • and late-stage cancer
  • diagnosis
  • selected by advertisers mimicked the sensitive informational search queries of cancer patients. In 2023
  • specific cancers
  • treatment options

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