Google will begin to ban advertisements related to Covid-19 conspiracy theories starting next month according to reports.

The search giant will ban ads that promote conspiracy theories elated to Covid-19. It will also prevent publishers from advertising on pages that promote such theories, CNBC reported.

It will ban an entire site from using its ad platform if the site produces a large amount of such content.

The company has already banned ads making false claims about the disease that can be deemed harmful.

It will now ban ads related conspiracy theories such as Covid-19 vaccines are aimed at genetically modifying population or that Microsoft-cofounder Bill Gates created Covid-19 or that it was a bioweapon made in a lab in China.

Conspiracy theories around the pandemic which has taken the world by a storm have been harmful in most cases. For instance, conspiracy theory relating 5G to Covid-19 had led to arson and damage in 5G network towers in the United Kingdom (UK).

Platforms such as Twitter have also taken action against content promoting these theories. Twitter now labels and in some cases removes content linking Covid-19 to 5G.

Google will enforce its policy related to ads and conspiracy theories from August 18, the report said.

Google and Twitter in March had placed a ban on an advertisement that mentioned “coronavirus” in a bid to curb the spread of misinformation on their platforms, according to a report by Ad Age.

They had then lifter this ban in April for advertising, which includes social messages to pave the way for “positive messaging” related to the pandemic.

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