The company limits targeting capabilities for advertisers, and will seek to limit ads with false statements and doctored videos.
Background: In recent years, Tech giants have come under increasing scrutiny with regard to political advertising on their platforms. Social media services have been particularly criticised for their lack of transparency, which did not make it possible to understand who funded political ads; this is at odds with the rules imposed on traditional media, which have to deny advertising spaces to foreign purchasers. This has resulted in some legislative changes (France and Germany in particular); companies also took action, as shown by Twitter’s recent ban on political advertising.
Google limits targeting capabilities for political ads: This week, Google announced it will make changes to how advertisers can target their message to end users. While Google has never offered granular microtargeting for election ads, basic political targeting capabilities to verified advertisers were possible (such as serving ads based on public voter records and general political affiliations). The company is now limiting targeting to the categories of age, gender, and general location. Political advertisers can continue to do contextual targeting, such as serving ads to people reading or watching a given story. This will align Google’s approach to election ads with traditional media and result in election ads being more widely seen and available for public discussion.
False claims will not be allowed: Advertisers will not be able to make false statements – something that already applies to non-political ads. Demonstrably false claims that could undermine trust and participation in a democratic process will not be allowed. Google will also block doctored and manipulated media such as “deep fakes”.
Next steps: Google will begin enforcing the new approach in the U.K. in the week commencing 25 November 2019 (ahead of the General Election), in the EU by the end of 2019, and in the rest of the world starting on 6 January 2020. Google is also working on additional transparency measures, on which it will share further details in the coming months.
