Google Pressured to Remove Sites Connected to Illegal Pharmacies

Google is under pressure to remove sites that allow people to buy medications without a prescription. An attorney general is threatening Google with a lawsuit if the Internet mogul doesn’t start policing illegal sites better.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says Google made efforts to ban these sites once the company received a letter from Hood’s office threatening litigation, but it’s not enough for Hood. While he admits the amount of results for searches like, “buy Viagra without a prescription” was cut in half, hundreds of search engines results still remain. Hood wants Google and YouTube, which Google owns, to put more effort into scanning the net for illegal sites.

Google says it has removed more than three million ads for illegal pharmacies over the last two years and continues to monitor search engine results as closely as possible. YouTube also issued a statement, saying its review team is always looking for content that violates its user guidelines, but with 72 hours of content uploaded each minute, the company says it’s difficult to watch every piece of content that is uploaded. YouTube says it relies on citizens to flag inappropriate content to help the company keep up with illegal uploads.

Adding fuel to the fire, an advocacy group called Digital Citizens Alliance, released a report last week claiming Google allows content and videos to be uploaded that not only showcase illegal activity, but also promote it. The report goes so far as to say Google profits from the content.

It’s not the first time Google has come under fire for questionable tactics. In 2011, the company paid a $500 million fine when feds were able to buy advertising on Google to promote the sale of human growth hormones and steroids on a U.S. site. The U.S. Department of Justice handled the case and forced Google to sign an agreement to increase its compliance and reporting measures for illegal content. The U.S. Department of Justice said the agreement was an important aspect of the deal that would hopefully stop the misconduct from happening in the future.

eDrugstore.com supports the crackdown of rogue pharmacy sites and has made numerous efforts to educate the public about the dangers of illegal sites. eDrugstore.com is a federally regulated site, which provides FDA-approved medications to its clients, but a prescription is always needed. For more information about eDrugstore.com and its safety procedures, please check out the AccesssRx.com website.