The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has asked Google to remove thousands of advertisements from its Japanese shopping site which promote products for sale from endangered whale and elephant species.
EIA said that Google Japan’s shopping site features about 10,000 ads that promote the sale of ivory products and more than 1,400 ads that promote whale products.
EIA president, Allan Thornton, said: "Google has laudable policies that prohibit the promotion of endangered wildlife products including whale, dolphin and elephant ivory, but sadly these are not being enforced and that’s devastating for whales and elephants."
"While elephants are being mass slaughtered across Africa to produce ivory trinkets, it is shocking to discover that Google, with the massive resources it has at its disposal, is failing to enforce its own policies designed to help protect endangered elephants and whales," Thornton said.
EIA said around 80% of the elephant ivory ads are for ‘hanko’, Japanese name seals used to affix signatures to documents.
Environmentalists have written to the internet giant’s CEO, Larry Page, asking for their removal.
Google has responded that it doesn’t allow the promotion of elephant ivory and whale products.
