In an August 18 announcement Google revealed the removal of Syria from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list. This paves the way for the company’s return to the Syrian market for the first time since 2004, when sanctions were first imposed and then significantly expanded in 2011 with the outbreak of the civil war.
Details of the Change in Advertising Policy
According to the official update published by Google, this decision includes updating the Google Ads Legal Requirements Policy, amending the Help Center page for understanding country restrictions, and removing Syria from the list of restricted regions entirely. With this change, the list of restricted regions has been reduced to just five: Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
Account Restoration Process for Syrian Advertisers
Google clarified that Syrian advertisers and publishers previously affected by sanctions will be required to restore their accounts through manual verification, providing official documents proving their identity, and agreeing to the updated Terms of Service. The company’s support teams will review requests according to their usual procedures, noting that some accounts may require additional verification time due to the length of the freeze period.
The change opens the door to access to 22 million users and the ability to target a large segment of the population in Syria. It also allows digital advertising growth, especially given the internet penetration rate in Syria is estimated at 34%. It grants access to mobile advertising, with smartphone usage in the country continuing to grow despite economic challenges. The decision will enable local companies to reach their local audience, and international companies to target Syrian communities abroad.
Technical Changes in Campaign Management
With this update, advertisers can now target Syria as a geographic location within Google’s options and use location-based advertising features such as local inventory ads, location extensions, and proximity targeting. Google advised campaign managers to update the geographic exclusions that previously excluded Syria to avoid unintended targeting.
Official Reactions and Future Challenges
Syrian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdulsalam Heikal announced that a team from the ministry was working daily with representatives of the US government and technology companies to implement this step, noting that Google was the first company to respond. Although this is a positive step, there are still challenges facing the digital sector in Syria, the most important of which are the disparity in the quality of internet services between regions, the need to develop the digital infrastructure, and the necessity of keeping pace with international standards in digital advertising.
