Google allows advertisers to target the sensitive informational queries of cancer patients

Alternative cancer treatments are associated with earlier time to death when used without evidence-based treatments. Our study suggests alternative cancer clinics providing scientifically unsupported cancer treatments spent an estimated $15,839,504 on Google ads from 2012 to 2023 targeting users in the United States. The ads led to an estimated 6,717,663 website visits. Paid traffic constituted