Trust, transparency, and overreach: Google’s algorithm policing of academic-writing services in the UK
Google’s Advertising Policies, most notably the “Enabling dishonest behaviour” rule prohibit ads that facilitate academic cheating, and the company enforces those rules with automated and human review. That enforcement protects students and underwrites user trust. But it also produces a familiar governance problem: when visibility is mediated by opaque algorithms and blunt categories, legitimate forms of academic support (editing, coaching, methodological consulting for phd proposals, and research assistance) are often swept up and de-listed. Using UK law, sector guidance, scholarly literature on contract cheating, industry reporting, and platform-governance theory, this essay argues for a more nuanced, evidence-based approach to ad enforcement, one that preserves Google’s user-trust objective while distinguishing clearly between predatory “essay mills” and ethical academic-support services.