Google and Facebook are responding to price gouging surrounding the sales of medical face masks by banning ads for face masks.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that the bans are efforts to fight against the exploitative sale of medical supplies amidst growing fears surrounding the spread of the coronavirus.

Amidst growing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, Facebook and Google have banned ads selling medical face masks on their respective platforms.

The bans come as methods to “protect users,” according to a Google spokesperson.

Similarly, Facebook’s head of its trust and integrity team for ads and business products, Rob Leathern, said:

"We’re banning ads and commerce listings selling medical face masks. We’re monitoring COVID19 closely and will make necessary updates to our policies if we see people trying to exploit this public health emergency. We’ll start rolling out this change in the days ahead."