Google Merchant Center – Policy Violation “Masks”- How to Fix

Introduction

Google Merchant Center has updated its Masks policy to prevent the sale of mannequins and masks that conceal the wearer’s face. The change was made in response to concerns about violence and terrorism, following several incidents involving perpetrators wearing masks or facial coverings. This change will impact all sellers on Google Shopping, whether they are based in the US or not.

Google Merchant Center Policy Violation – Masks

If you have a product that violates the Masks policy, you need to remove it from your Merchant Center account. You can do this by removing the masking code from your image and resubmitting the image without any kind of pixelation or blurring.

After removing all masks, we recommend waiting at least 24 hours before re-uploading your products so that Google has time to process them. If after 24 hours you still don’t see an update in Merchant Center indicating that your product has been approved for sale on Google Shopping (or if there’s still no change), please contact us through our Help Center so we can review your account together and determine what might be causing this issue.

What is the Masks Policy on Google Merchant Center?

The Masks Policy on Google Merchant Center is a new policy that prohibits the use of masks, prosthetics and makeup to cover up the face of models. The Masks Policy is in addition to the other policies that prohibit nudity and violence on your product listings. This includes:

• No nudity or sexual content
• No violent or graphic content

What do I do if my product violates the Masks policy?

If you believe your product violates the Masks policy, you can use one of the following options to resolve it:

• Use the masking tool in the Google Merchant Center. To access this tool, select a product using its SKU number and click on “Manage > Masks.” Then follow these steps:
• Create an image that shows all parts of your product in place but with a black or white background behind them so as not to show any faces or other identifying features (for example, eyes). The size of this image should be 1080 x 1920 pixels for best results; however, if needed for some reason like resolution issues then we recommend using 720 x 1280 instead because it will still work well enough without affecting our ability to detect faces within those dimensions.* If possible use an existing picture instead of creating one yourself using a camera since cameras tend not produce high quality images which would lead us into rejecting them more often than not due to poor quality rather than anything else related specifically towards masks/variants themselves being too small etc..

How long will it take for one of my products to be reviewed and approved after violating the Masks Policy change?

The process of reviewing products and updating them to be compliant with the new policy will take some time. In fact, it’s expected that there will be an influx of product reviews over the next few months as Google works through all of them. If you have a small number of products that violate this policy, then your review process should go relatively quickly. However, if you have many products which violate this policy or if there are other issues with those items (such as copyright infringement), then it may take longer for Google’s reviewers to get through all those items before they can be approved again by being sold on Amazon’s marketplace.

What is the current state of my products?

The current status of your products is as follows:

• The product has been published to the site.
• The product is currently masked or has been masked in the past, but is not currently masked.
• The merchant has not yet made any changes to their Masks policy since it was last reviewed by Google. If you have made changes to your Masks policy that would result in a different classification for this product (for example if you added new keywords), please send us an email at masks@google.com so that we can update our records appropriately and review your changes before they go into effect on October 1st 2018

It’s time to get compliant.

It’s time to get compliant.

If you haven’t done so already, make sure your products are in compliance with the Masks policy. You can check this by visiting the product page of any item in your Merchant Center account and clicking on “More details” under “Product policies.” If there are any violations present, follow these steps:

• Remove all masks from images on your site (and update any URLs for those images).
• Update all product descriptions with accurate names of products, including sizes and colors if applicable (and update any URLs associated with these descriptions).

If you need help getting everything updated before Google begins enforcing this change more heavily later this year or early next year–or if you just want some general advice on how best to comply–contact us today!

Conclusion

Google has made it very clear that they are cracking down on Masks and will be taking action against businesses that violate their policies. If you do not want your account to get suspended, then remove It from your feed or if you need help optimizing your Google Merchant Center account, contact us.