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Google Regulates Fraudulent Addiction Marketing

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at September 15, 2017

After months if not years of industry leaders complaining about the gamesmanship in addiction treatment center marketing, and the findings by a Grand Jury in Palm Beach County, Florida, the nation’s search engine leader, Google, has finally clamped down on what has been found to be substantive marketing abuses by internet-savvy providers.

It is sad, however, that what is otherwise a very viable (if not the only) ability to find a treatment programs that match needs has become a “no man’s land” of mines and traps for the unwary.

For now, we believe that Google is simply “putting the brakes” on a runaway problem until they can resolve the problem that has been created.

We have been warning the industry that this was coming for weeks, if not months. We have been helping clients with alternative advertising avenues. Some have gotten ahead of this curve. Others, well, have not.

The exceptional article from Cat Ferguson of The Verge can be found here.

The article from the NY Times can be found here.

And, of course, video of our polite unsolicited “confrontation” with the Google rep at the 2017 NAATP Leadership Conference can be seen here (Pt.1Pt. 2).

At the end of the day, the overriding public policy in healthcare is that our nation wants patients to voluntarily and intelligently choose their healthcare providers. That is absolutely the case in addiction healthcare, where an overwhelming number of patients travel for treatment.

SOBER LAW NEWS IS A LEGAL WEBSITE PROVIDING NEWS, COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS ON THE ADDICTION TREATMENT AND RECOVERY SERVICES INDUSTRIES. THE ARTICLES REPOSTED ON THIS SITE TAKE AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT CURRENT TRENDS IN THIS DYNAMIC HEALTH CARE SECTOR AND THE LAWS THAT GOVERN ITS REGULATION AND GROWTH. OUR HOPE AND PURPOSE IS TO PROVIDE RELEVANT AND ACCURATE INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC AND TO POLICYMAKERS THAT WILL HELP GUIDE THE PROVISION OF ADDICTION TREATMENT OUT OF THE SHADOWS AND INTO TRANSPARENT, MAINSTREAM HEALTH CARE. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS WEBSITE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS INTENDED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE. ANY QUESTIONS OF A LEGAL NATURE SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO AN ATTORNEY, AND THE INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE LEGAL ADVICE FROM A LICENSED ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE. BY USING THIS WEBSITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU MAY NOT RELY UPON OR REFER TO THE CONTENTS AS BEING LEGAL ADVICE OR GUIDANCE PROVIDED BY JEFFREY C. LYNNE, ESQ., WITHOUT HIS PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT.

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