Google this week lifted its political ad ban, giving advertisers the opportunity to enter the campaign fray ahead of the critical January runoff races for Georgia’s Senate seats.
The removal of the political ad blockade does not affect the tech giant’s decision to crack down on content alleging voter fraud or affect Google’s approach to moderating content that it deems to have violated its other policies.
Several tech platforms halted political advertising surrounding the November election and Google’s decision to rescind its ban will change how the candidates in the Georgia races push their message to voters.
Google’s ad ban surrounding the November election affected more than 5 million ads referencing the election, the candidates and the election’s outcome, wrote Amanda Storey, Google Trust & Safety director, on the company’s blog.
“This week, we are lifting this pause and allowing advertisers to continue running election-related ads on our platforms, as long as they comply with our global advertising policies,” Ms. Storey wrote.
Google’s election ads policies include a verification process for the advertiser and ensuring that U.S. election ads only run in the U.S.
Among the advertising content still blocked under Google’s ad policies are ads depicting dangerous or derogatory content, certain “shocking content” depicting things such as crime scene photos, and ads that facilitate or promote access to hacked materials. Discussion and commentary on hacked political materials is allowed in ads, but directing users to access material obtained via an unauthorized digital intrusion is still unacceptable.
While Google is lifting its ban on political ads, it is simultaneously cracking down on content alleging election fraud elsewhere. YouTube, which is owned by Google, said Wednesday it would remove videos that alleged election fraud or claimed that errors had changed the outcome of the 2020 election.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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