The decision comes amid increasing concern that online platforms like Google and Facebook can secretly be used to influence the results of elections and referendums. That concern has spread to the election on the eighth amendment.

It comes amid increasing concern that the ads were being used by outside groups to influence the result of the election.

"Following our update around election integrity efforts globally, we have decided to pause all ads related to the Irish referendum on the Eighth Amendment," a spokesperson said.

Google is showing a range of ads about the Irish referendum, which will take place on 25 May. Anyone who searches for any related terms is likely to see a post with a link to a website, either in support of voting for or against the plan to legalise abortion in the country.

The ban will go into effect in the next 24 hours and will last until the campaign is over. It will not change what shows in normal search results, which at the moment is largely made up of news articles from a range of organisations, rather than information from campaigns on either side.

The announcement comes just a day after Facebook announced it would stop all ads that were being bought from outside of Ireland. The company said that "foreign entities" appeared to be trying to influence the result.

The Independent

More about: Google