Yellow Pages is different from Google because there is no targeting of the advert. If there was a Yellow Pages tablet, that showed you ads for/against abortion (choose whichever you disagree with) repeatedly around every trade you looked up (plumber, chiropodist, lawyer, etc), then yes, it would be similar and I’d have a similar problem with it.

It is Google’s praxis of directing ads to targeted groups, coupled with the vulnerability of some of these target groups and the willingness of otherwise-aligned parties (the anti-abortion group, here) to pay Google to do this - all three combined are the problem here. I don’t think Google gets a free pass.

I know they dropped the “Don’t be evil” mantra, presumably the ability to do things like this is why…