Political ads on Google must now be bought by someone showing verification that they are a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, the firm announced on Friday.
The Silicon Valley-based, search-engine giant — along with other major U.S. social media firms including Facebook and Twitter — has come under intense scrutiny since the 2016 presidential election because Russian propagandists purchased ads on the digital platforms in a bid to influence the outcome.
In a company blog post Friday by Google Senior Vice President Kent Walker, the company said advertisers must now provide a government-issued ID and other key information. Google will also require that political ads incorporate a clear disclosure of who purchased them.
While political advertising on radio, TV and print media has been regulated for decades, the online world has had to adhere to almost no oversight since mushrooming into what some argue is now America’s leading media over the past 20 years.
Since the Russian election meddling scandal, however, Capitol Hill lawmakers have pushed hard for legislation to change that. To jump ahead of Congress, the leading tech firms have rolled out self-regulatory schemes, with Google’s Friday announcement the latest.
As for when the rules will take effect, Google said it would be later this year ahead of November’s midterm elections. The firm also plans to release a new transparency report, linkable to a searchable library, detailing who purchased political ads and the amounts spent.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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