By Hadley Barndollar | HBarndollar@masslive.com
Publication Date: 2026-01-16 10:20:00
Last fall, the world’s richest and most popular search engine exhibited a moral compass of sorts when it banned advertisements for machines often used to make dangerous counterfeit pills.
As of Sept. 1, 2025, Google updated its “dangerous products or services” policies to prohibit advertisements for pill presses and their related components, both of which are widely available for purchase online with little regulation.
They’re often shipped from China, where many suppliers are located, into the hands of illicit drug or counterfeit pill manufacturers operating inconspicuously in communities across Massachusetts and the U.S.
A MassLive investigation in 2024 uncovered the presence of pill press operations in the Bay State, part of a larger national wave fueling domestic illicit pill production — and overdose deaths.
Google’s action was viewed as proactive, as the federal government has increasingly gone after online marketplaces for selling the machines. The search engine…
