Search Engine Roundtable: Google Updates Alcohol, Prescription Drugs, Gambling & Government Policies. “Google has updated or is updating a number of Google Ads and Google Merchant Center policies. This goes across alcohol, prescription drugs, gambling and games and government documents and services policies.”

Bloomberg: Google Hit by EU Antitrust Probe Over Search Ads Pricing. “Google, the target for billions of euros in European Union antitrust fines, has been hit by a fresh EU probe over concerns it’s illegally rigging the cost of advertising on its search engine.”

Search Engine Journal: Google Disputes Report Claiming Ads Are Coming To Gemini In 2026. “Google is publicly pushing back on an Adweek report that claimed the company told advertising clients it plans to bring ads to its Gemini AI chatbot next year. Dan Taylor, Google’s Vice President of Global Ads, responded directly on X shortly after the story published, calling the report inaccurate and […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/12/11/search-engine-journal-google-disputes-report-claiming-ads-are-coming-to-gemini-in-2026/

Krebs on Security: Drones to Diplomas: How Russia’s Largest Private University is Linked to a $25M Essay Mill. “A sprawling academic cheating network turbocharged by Google Ads that has generated nearly $25 million in revenue has curious ties to a Kremlin-connected oligarch whose Russian university builds drones for Russia’s war against Ukraine.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/12/09/drones-to-diplomas-how-russias-largest-private-university-is-linked-to-a-25m-essay-mill-krebs-on-security/

Search Engine Roundtable: Google Ads No Longer Allows Online Horse Racing Betting. “Google Ads updated its gambling policy to disallow all promotion of online gambling-promoting content for horse racing targeting the United States. Google said this goes into effect as of December 1, 2025.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/12/07/search-engine-roundtable-google-ads-no-longer-allows-online-horse-racing-betting/

Search Engine Land: Google’s proposed ad tech fixes face EU scrutiny. “The European Commission is asking industry players to review Google’s proposal to settle major antitrust charges involving its advertising technology business — a case that has already led to nearly €3 billion ($3.5 billion) in fines.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/12/05/search-engine-land-googles-proposed-ad-tech-fixes-face-eu-scrutiny/

Phone Arena: T-Mobile just lost a customer forever thanks to a Google Maps ad that nearly caused a crash. “The author described driving toward a destination when Google Maps suddenly asked whether they wanted to add a stop at a nearby T-Mobile store. The prompt appeared in large alert-style lettering just as they were passing through an intersection, and they felt that any unexpected movement […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/28/phone-arena-t-mobile-just-lost-a-customer-forever-thanks-to-a-google-maps-ad-that-nearly-caused-a-crash/

New York Times: The Fate of Google’s Ad Tech Monopoly Is Now in a Judge’s Hands. This link goes to a gift article. “Judge Leonie M. Brinkema is on the clock. The federal judge, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, heard three hours of closing arguments on Friday from lawyers for the Justice Department and Google over the right way to fix the company’s […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/23/new-york-times-the-fate-of-googles-ad-tech-monopoly-is-now-in-a-judges-hands/

MediaPost: Google Begins Displaying Ads In ‘AI Mode’. “Google has begun displaying ads in AI Mode, the company’s AI search engine, placing them at the bottom of the responses on the page. Ad results labelled with the sponsored tag resemble the organic link cards that serve up above.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/22/mediapost-google-begins-displaying-ads-in-ai-mode/

Search Engine Land: Google Ads adds account-level political content setting. “Google Ads expanded its ‘Political content’ declaration, allowing advertisers to set a default political-ads preference at the account level — not just within individual campaigns. The feature quietly rolled out after Google introduced the campaign-level setting in August 2025.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/21/search-engine-land-google-ads-adds-account-level-political-content-setting/