When Facebook revealed yesterday it was to ban ads relating to Ireland's abortion referendum from foreign sources, pressure was on another social media giant to follow suit.

Now Google has gone one better, saying it is going to ban all ads relating to the referendum, not just ones from foreign sources, according to RTE.

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

The ban will be implemented during the next 24 hours and will last for the rest of the campaign – until May 25 – across Google and YouTube.

The moves by Google and Facebook reflect concerns over the way data has been collected by social media and used to target advertisements aimed at influencing not just purchasing but elections, notably the 2016 US presidential election.

Google employs almost 7,000 people in Ireland. It said last week it would introduce a verification process for election ads in the US and that it is looking at how it handles election ads globally.

Google has been under pressure after a Times story revealed American organisations have paid it in order to target Irish voters with a quiz that collects data on their political views, including on the issue of abortion.