Data Donations for Mapping Risk in Google Search of Health Queries: A case study of unproven stem cell treatments in SEM

Abstract

On October 1st, 2019 in response to critique from patient advocates and the medical community, Google explicitly prohibited promotion of unproven stem cell and gene therapy treatments on their platform in order to protect users from rising direct-to-consumer marketing of unproven medical interventions. This project aims to record the efficacy of that prohibition as it was enforced and track the impact of Google’s AI-based advertising modalities on end-user results. In particular, this study gives special consideration to the risk potential for vulnerable patient communities navigating health information through Google search. Utilising a crowd-sourced ‘Black Box’ audit with a browser plugin, we captured the continued presence of prohibited and problematic advertisements returned by stem cell-related queries in the months following Google’s ban. In the domain of Search Engine Marketing (SEM), emerging stem cell treatments are situated in a critical juncture between advertisers and potentially vulnerable users with Google Search as an unobserved mediator. Addressing the issues raised by this data collection is of utmost importance in the protection of patient populations online. This project aims to draw attention to the need for transparency and accountability of advertising intermediaries engaged in the targeted promotion of potentially problematic treatments to vulnerable audiences.