UK political party Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed Saturday that Google blocked the party’s Ad Accounts. Farage called this “election interference.” The account has since been reinstated.

One advertisement was removed for a “policy violation.” It is unclear which policy they violated. Google’s advertising policies that appear most applicable are the political content and the inappropriate content policies. In order for the advertisements to not be flagged as contrary to the political content policies, they must belong to a verified advertiser, with a confirmed identity. Alternatively, the advertisement may have been considered inappropriate, if it displayed shocking content or promoted hatred, intolerance, discrimination, or violence.

The guidance on policy violation stipulates that either “violations” (indicating that there are multiple) or “an egregious violation” is detected. Only following an “egregious” violation will the account be suspended without warning or chance of remediation. Following an account suspension, all advertisements are paused and the user is no longer allowed to advertise unless successfully appealed. Any related accounts are also suspended, and any new accounts created by the same person are automatically suspended.

Both Nigel Farage and the party he leads, Reform UK, are considered by many to belong to the far-right of the UK political spectrum. Farage founded the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in 1993 and was elected party leader in 2006. He later set up the Brexit Party, after stepping down as UKIP leader in 2018. Many of his remarks have caused controversy, including comments deemed sexist, racist and antisemitic, defending the use of an anti-Chinese slur, supporting both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and an infamous poster that was compared to Nazi propaganda. Reform UK recently unveiled its election manifesto, which includes policies on freezing “non-essential” immigration, scrapping the net zero climate target, introducing new tax cuts for small businesses, tax relief on school fees and banning “transgender ideology” in public schools.

Farage’s allegation comes during a discussion in the UK about censorship, particularly of sensitive issues like immigration and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. He has accused a number of organizations of working against him and his party during the campaign, including media regulator Ofcom.