Google Put A Ban On Political Ads Amidst Elections

Recently, Google has been the next tech giant to have a limit to political ads. The company is considering the limitation on age, location, and gender options for election ads. This will make it difficult for advertisers to make targets based on political views or public voting records. The action will be effective next week in the UK, by late 2019 in the EU and by January 6th, 2020 in all remaining countries. 

According to Google, this strategy is in line with what is seen on television, print, and radio ads. Google also proved to have a stricter stance on the truth in advertising than Facebook. It is taking strong actions to remove political advertising policies and prevent false census statements, deepfakes or any threats that could negatively affect participation or confidence in elections. While it can only block a small number of ads and has not yet announced a ban on ads with misleading information, this is at least a clear and determined action by Google.

The ads in the US will also require more and more transparency. Starting from December 3rd, 2019, Google's transparency in political advertising in the United States will expand, from federal to state-level politicians as well as candidates. The ballot measures and any party-related ads will also be supervised too regardless of the scales. 

For those who wait for a Google ban for general advertising mistakes, they probably will not be satisfied. In the future, there will be new ways to adapt to this ad adjustment by Google. In the US, political candidates will find it hard to limit ads to supporters, and they will have to target a general demographic group and expect good things to come to them.

As compared to Facebook's loose advertising control and the almost-entirely political ban on Twitter, there is a sharp contrast here. And for Google, although it is too soon to draw a conclusion about their new advertising policies, it is certain that new ways of online advertising for political purposes will change significantly next year.