“It’s an outrage and a farce,” said Ms. Patten. “Given the number of times Google has spoken out against censorship over the past year in the wake of the government’s internet filtering plans, this is the last thing we would expect from them.”

On Monday, The Australian Sex Party began running an AdWords campaign featuring the widely circulated “Jerk Choices” advertisement (as seen on The 7 PM Project and Gruen Nation). These ads were approved by Google without restriction, and began appearing in political and news-orientated sites and searches.

At some time on Thursday, the approval status of these advertisements was changed without warning or notice to an “adults only” category.

“It’s a bitter irony that Google, after drawing attention to the dangers of mandatory internet filtering as regards the blocking of perfectly legitimate content, would somehow allow content that has aired on prime time TV to be censored in this manner,” commented Ms. Patten.

While the Australian Sex Party is currently seeking an explanation from Google, “with less than 24 hours to go until the election, the damage has already been done” concluded Ms. Patten.