Google's new policy strengthens the transparency of its political content ads on its platform, requiring advertisers to now verify their identity.
Advertisers will still have to submit information about who they represent, what their mission is, and how they are funded. Although the changes currently concern USA it is possible that similar restrictions will soon be imposed in our country as well.
So those who want to run a political ad through Google's massive ad network in the coming years elections in the US, they will first need to validate their identity and location.
Her giant search announced 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 now also aligns with US media laws informations, which restrict foreign companies from conducting election advertisements.
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 greater transparency in the advertising on its platform. In particular, the social network requires advertisers to disclose the amount spent on placing ads, the party that sponsors the campaign, and any other collaborations 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 will begin requiring political advertisers and political pages with large followings to provide information to verify their identity. The Facebook founder also announced his plans to unveil a public foundation data with previous election / political ads hosted on the platform.