Google's new policy makes political ads more transparent on platform of, requiring advertisers to now verify their identity.
Advertisers will still have to provide information about who they represent, what their mission is and how they are funded. Although the changes are currently affecting the US, it is not possible to soon put such restrictions in our country.
So those who want to run a political ad through Google's massive ad network during the upcoming US election will first need to verify their identity and location their.
Her giant searchannounced the ad policy changes on Friday, and advertisers will now have to prove they are US citizens or permanent residents when buying and running political ads.
Under the new guidelines, Google will ask those interested - whether they are political parties, political organizations or individual candidates - to prove that they are the ones they claim to be. It will also require clear proof of who is funding these ads.
The change comes after revelations about abuse of Google's ad network, as well as other social networking companies, by foreign players, as was the case with the Russian Internet Research Agency, described as a group dealing with interventions in political processes. The Russian company is known to have made efforts to influence the outcome during the US presidential election of 2016, including buying thousands of dollars worth of ads on the Google platform, as revealed by the latter.
Also the new one policy of Google is now in line with US media laws that restrict foreign companies from running electoral ads.
Updating Google's policy has been on Twitter and its footsteps Facebook, which have already announced corresponding policies for stricter management and control of electoral advertising.
Last year, Twitter announced a series of measures aimed at making ads more transparent on its platform. More specifically, the social network requires advertisers to disclose the amount spent on ad placement, the party sponsoring the campaign, and any other affiliations with political parties or candidates.
Last month also, in the context of his apology after the scandal with Cambridge Analytica, the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, made corresponding announcements.
Zuckerberg said his company would start requiring political advertisers and policy pages with many followers to provide information to verify their identity. The Facebook founder also announced plans to reveal a public database with previous election / political ads hosted on the platform.
