The tech companies Google and Facebook expressed concern they would be blamed if the the abortion referendum failed to pass

Anti-abortion campaigners accounted for about two-thirds of the total spent on Google advertisements about the Eighth Amendment referendum before the company banned the use of its platforms during the campaign, The Times understands.

Google sold €78,314 worth of adverts linked to the referendum which garnered more than 15 million impressions from January to May 10.

Together For Yes is understood to have bought about €8,000 worth of ads. Amnesty International Ireland also ran ads on the platform for the Yes side.

John McGuirk, a spokesman for Save The 8th, which campaigned against the introduction of abortion, said his group had spent about €40,000 by the time of the ban two weeks before the referendum. Protect the 8th, associated with Family & Life, and the Pro