Google is taking a stand against potential predatory lenders.

The company said Wednesday that it will ban all payday loan ads from its popular online advertising system in recognition of criticism from consumer proponents who say these short-term, high-interest deals are often used to prey on poor people in moments of desperation.

“Research has shown that these loans can result in unaffordable pay and high default rates for users so we will be updating our policies globally to reflect that, “Google’s director of global product policy, David Graff, said in a blog post.

Payday loans are short-term checks for small sums usually due by the recipient’s next payday that can spike in interest if they aren’t paid off immediately.By Google’s definition, they include any loans for which payment is due within 60 days.

Google is the biggest advertising company on the Internet, and its AdWords system, on which this policy will be enforced, is the companys biggest money manufacturer. The program places the ads you see in the periphery of every Google search and across the search giants partner sites.

Google said it will also ban any ads for loans with an interest rate of 36% or higher in the United States.

The change will not encompass any ads for mortgages, student loans, car loan or charge card loans. It could, however, encompass LendUp, a startup backed by Google parent Alphabet’s venture capital limb that aims to offer an alternative to traditional payday loans.

Aside from ads, payday lenders won’t vanish from Google entirely. Those with a high search ranking will still be displayed in Google’s search results as usual.The ban goes into effect in July.

Google already filters out specific types of ads it deems misleading, such as weight loss swindles and false medication promotions. Last year, the search giant claimed to have blocked millions of such ads.

But this change marks the first time the company has issued a blanket forbid on a broad category of fiscal product.

It comes after mounting pressure from civil rights groups and consumer advocates. Facebook also bowed to such concerns last autumn and enacted a similar ban.

“This new policy addresses many of the longstanding fears shared by the entire civil right community about predatory payday lending, ” Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in Google’s press release.

An industry trade group for payday lenders was predictably unhappy with the decision.

These policies are discriminatory and a kind of censorship, ” a spokesperson for the Community Financial Services Association said in a statement. “Google is making a blanket assessment about the payday lending industry rather than discerning the very best actors from the bad actors.”

Google’s announcement also comes amid discussion in the tech media about the kind of control that massive platforms like Facebook and Google have over the information that their users insure and how much accountability that power should come with.

By banning these kinds of ads, Google and Facebook seem to be implicitly signaling their willingness to take a stand and hurl their weight around on matters of public interest.

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