Head of the Mighty Oaks Foundation Chad Robichaux has complained on Twitter that his organisation, which helps combatants through post-traumatic stress disorder, had been prohibited from tagging its YouTube ad with the keyword 'Christian'.

The social media team at the Google-owned video-hosting giant soon replied to his accusations, insisting that 'religious beliefs are personal, so we don’t allow advertisers to target users on the basis of religion'.

However, this response prompted accusations of double standards against the platform, as Robichaux responded that his organisation had managed to run the exact same ad with the keyword ‘Muslim’, which was approved, in contrast to the 'Christian' tag.

He also insisted that his group had run ads with the keyword 'Christian' for years, including garnering 150,000 impressions for that word in the ads this year alone.

The activist also referred to information he got from the company’s support line, which said that this is a new restriction. As he revealed in an interview, Google’s helpline said that the company's new criteria prohibit the word 'Christian'. Robichaux insisted that the restriction blocks them from reaching out to people whom they want to help and from operating as a Christian organisation.

Google has not commented on the issue apart from the YouTube team’s reply to Robichaux on Twitter.