Following months of pressure by Open MIC and a coalition of tech, civil rights and policy groups, Microsoft has now quietly released new rules that will curb predatory lenders on its Bing search engine in the U.S. The policy changes are a win for all Bing users, and particularly for low income users who are the intended targets of misleading ads for predatory financial products and services.
Investors Applaud Google's Ban of Payday Loan Ads
Today Google announced it will ban ads for payday loans and other predatory lending products. Payday loans are short-term, high-interest loans that create and perpetuate cycles of debt among low income communities. With its new policy, Google is taking a big step to curtail the harmful impact of predatory lending schemes on its users. Low income people — the primary targets of economically exploitative ploys both online and off — stand to benefit most from the policy change.