Google's Political Ad Format

https://www.blog.google/technology/ads/update-our-political-ads-policy/

1. Search ads (which appear on Google in response to a search for a particular topic or candidate)
2. YouTube ads (which appear on YouTube videos and generate revenue for those creators)
3. Display ads (which appear on websites and generate revenue for our publishing partners)

Political Ad Policy

https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6014595?hl=en

https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6020955?hl=en&ref_topic=1626336

• Advertisers to comply with local legal requirements
  • Google imposes verification requirement on advertiser based on geography
  • Disclosure requirement: Google requires that all election ads in the EU, India, and the United States show a disclosure that identifies who paid for the ad. For most ad formats, Google will automatically generate a “Paid for by“ disclosure, using the information provided during the verification process.
• Definition of political ads: "Political content includes ads for political organizations, political parties, political issue advocacy or fundraising, and individual candidates and politicians."
• Restricted ad targeting capabilities
  • Acceptable:
    • Geographic location (except radius around a location)
    • Age, gender
    • Contextual targeting options such as: ad placements, topics, keywords against sites, apps, pages and videos
  • Unacceptable: all other types of targeting
    • This includes all Audience Targeting products, Remarketing, Customer Match [aka Custom Audience on Facebook], Geographic Radius Targeting, and Third Party Audiences, such as uploaded lists.
  • Consideration: parity with long-established practices in media such as TV, radio, and print, and result in election ads being more widely seen and available for public discussion. (Of course, some media, like direct mail, continues to be targeted more granularly.)
• List of geography-specific rules
  • EU
  • India
  • Taiwan (outright ban from from November 15, 2019 to January 17, 2020)
  • US (with further state and local level restrictions)
  • Canada
    • Outright ban of election ads from June 30 to Oct 21, 2019
    • Outright ban of Issue ads from Aug 27 to Oct 21, 2019
    • Exception for news organization to promote news coverage
  • Singapore (outright ban)
• Fact-checking of ads?
  • Manipulating media to deceive, defraud, or mislead others
    • Example: Deceptively doctoring media related to politics, social issues, or matters of public concern
  • Falsely implying affiliation with, or endorsement by, another individual, organization, product, or service
    • Examples: Misleading use or mimicry of official government sites, stamps, seals, or agency names
    • Specific example: An advertiser mimics the layout and design of an official government agency site
  • "It’s against our policies for any advertiser to make a false claim". Examples:
    • Claim that you can vote by text message, that election day is postponed, or that a candidate has died
    • Prohibit things like “deep fakes” (doctored and manipulated media), misleading claims about the census process, and ads or destinations making demonstrably false claims that could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.
  • BUT: "robust political dialogue is an important part of democracy, and no one can sensibly adjudicate every political claim, counterclaim, and insinuation."
  • So we expect that the number of political ads on which we take action will be very limited—but we will continue to do so for clear violations

Political Advertising Transparency Report

https://transparencyreport.google.com/political-ads/home?hl=en

FAQ: https://support.google.com/transparencyreport/answer/9575640

Overview

• Provide a publicly accessible, searchable, and downloadable transparency report of election ad content and spending on our platforms
• What is included?
  • Only verified advertisers are included in the report.
  • Ads purchased through Google Ads and Google Display & Video 360 and appeared on Google, YouTube, and partner properties.
  • The time frame is based on the launch date of the report for a country or region.
    • EU: since Mar 20, 2019
    • India: since Feb 19, 2019
    • US: since May 30, 2018
  • Does not include "non-political/election" ad
• For EU, India, and Federal US election
  • Starting on December 3, 2019, we’re expanding the coverage of our election advertising transparency to include U.S. state-level candidates and officeholders, ballot measures, and ads that mention federal or state political parties, so that all of those ads will now be searchable and viewable as well.