133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
19 July 2024
Erika Whittome
By email: [FYI request #27311 email]
Ref:
H2024044867
Tēnā koe Erika
Response to your request for official information Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Ministry of
Health – Manatū Hauora (the Ministry) on 20 June 2024 for information regarding Ministry’s
working relationship with YouTube. Please find a response to each part of your request below.
Please share since 1 Jan 2020:
the MoH budget spending to YouTube for advertising by the MoH or any of its agencies.
spending any other “information panels” that refer YouTube users to the New Zealand
Government Ministry of Health”.
The Ministry has made no payments to YouTube or any other social media platform. Therefore,
this part of your request is refused under section 18(g)(i) of the Act, as the information is not
held by the Ministry.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Google provided assistance to the Ministry to promote
informative and helpful products for the COVID-19 Response. A free credit of up to $50,000 per
month was provided through its Ads Grants Crisis Relief Program. This included space and the
ability to have 15 second advertisements on Google and YouTube platforms.
The information published on the platform was generated by the Ministry. This relationship
transferred to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) led the all-of-
government communications programme in 2021.
All meeting minutes, memos, correspondence, emails etc for the MoHs program of work
with YouTube for referring users to the MoH.
All details on the working relationship with YouTube and the MoH.
The use of YouTube was not a specific programme of work, rather it was part of the COVID-19
communications campaign. We assume your request to be for information relating to the nature
of the engagement between the Ministry and Google.
We have identified one email in scope, which I have released to you with a small amount
of information withheld under the following section of the Act:
• Section 9(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of natural persons
Where information is withheld under section 9 of the Act, I have considered the countervailing
public interest in release in making this decision and consider that it does not outweigh the need
to withhold.
To help you understand the scope of information held, please note that following receipt of your
refined request of 3 July 2024, the Ministry undertook a search of its database for
communications between the relevant Ministry staff member and Google in 2021, with any of
the following search terms:
• YouTube
• COVID-19
• Ad grants
• Google alerts.
This yielded a significant volume of items (9,252 items). Following a sampling exercise of ten
items of the documents identified, the Ministry can advise that these items were administrative
in nature regarding the Google content. Please contact us at
[email address] if you would
like to request further information on this matter.
Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any
decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by calling 0800 802 602.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Manatū Hauora website at: www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases/responses-
official-information-act-requests.
Nāku noa, nā
Sarah Turner
Deputy-Director General
Government and Executive Services | Te Pou Whakatere Kāwanatanga
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