- The University of Dallas, a Catholic institution, has faced repeated blocking of its graduate program ads by Google and Meta, despite adhering to advertising guidelines.
- Google flagged ads for violating its policy on "religious content for personalized advertising," though the university insists its ads were meant to attract prospective students, not target religious identities.
- Meta disabled the ad account of the university's marketing partner without explanation, hindering pro-life and Catholic client campaigns.
- University officials accuse Google and Meta of inconsistent enforcement, disproportionately restricting faith-based and conservative organizations while dominating digital ad markets.
- The university plans to push back by involving lawmakers and public pressure, arguing that tech censorship stifles free expression and requires policy intervention.
The University of Dallas (UD) a Catholic institution, has repeatedly seen its graduate program advertisements blocked by Google and Meta, raising concerns about bias against faith-based organizations in digital advertising policies.
Despite adhering to advertising guidelines, the Texas university has faced persistent restrictions from the two tech behemoths. Google has flagged and removed multiple ads, while Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, abruptly disabled access to the ad account of the university's digital marketing partner without clear justification. (Related: Censorship: Google to start flagging "offensive" content as another form of censorship.)
According to documents obtained by The College Fix, Google blocked nine of the university's paid promotions, citing violations of its policy on "religious content for personalized advertising," which prohibits targeting users based on "identity and belief."
In an email exchange with Google, VMR Communications President Hugh Macken argued that the ads were designed to attract those interested in the university, not to target individuals based on religious affiliation. VMR Communications is a firm that specializes in Catholic outreach campaigns.
Macken also revealed that in August 2024, Meta abruptly revoked his access to UD's ad account shortly after he applied to run pro-life political ads for another client.
"Despite more than six months of phone calls, live sessions and email threads, Meta has still not given me a specific reason as to why they have disabled my access," Macken wrote in an email, adding that others on his team are still able to access the agency's account. "The restriction is specifically targeted to me personally and has resulted in my inability to use any of my marketing agency's Meta ad accounts and those of our Catholic and pro-life clients."
Neither Google nor Meta responded immediately to requests for comment. However, UD remains determined to challenge the restrictions, framing the issue as a broader fight for free expression in an increasingly constrained public discourse.
Time to push back against censorship
Clare Venegas, the vice president of marketing at the university, accused Google of inconsistently enforcing its ad policies, stifling religious organizations while benefiting from its near-monopoly on digital advertising.
"For some reason, Google continues to claim that they're blocking us for religious reasons, when none of the College of Business ads have religious content in them," Venegas said in an on-campus interview with The College Fix.
She then revealed that other faith-based institutions are also experiencing the same.
"If I look at our marketing metrics and how people find our website, it's primarily through organic search. What we're trying to do with paid advertising on Google is reach people who are already searching for what we offer," Venegas said. "But Google is essentially a monopoly when it comes to search, and that's part of the problem. A lot of conservative or religious groups face real challenges here – the evidence seems to show that we're disproportionately blocked from advertising."
Venegas suggested that it may be time to push back more assertively whether by mobilizing the public or engaging lawmakers directly.
"Google support has not been helpful, so we are planning to contact our member of Congress. We just have to elevate this to the public sphere and see what can be done to address it from a policy standpoint. Sometimes it just takes them to put some pressure on the companies to solve some of the problems," Venegas said.
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