Google To Bring In More Transparency To 2019 Elections With ‘Advertisement Openness’

Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Internet search giant Google has announced that in order to support the democratic process, it is bringing in more openness to election advertising, and helping connect people to useful and relevant election-related information, reports Television Post.

Google will be introducing an India-specific Political Advertising Transparency Report and searchable political advertisement library to get more transparency in online election ads.

The report, which is due to go live in March 2019, will provide comprehensive details on who will be purchasing election ads on their platform and the amount of money spent.

Advertisers running ads during the election, under the updated election advertisement policy for India, will have to provide a ‘pre-certificate’ issued to them by the Election Commission (EC) or anybody authorised by the EC for the ads they want to run.

Google will then verify the advertiser's identity before running the ads on their platform. The verification of the advertisers will begin from 14 February. The advertisers will be able to refer to the India election ads policy for further information.

“In 2019, over 850 million Indians are expected to cast their vote to elect the country’s next government. We’re thinking hard about elections and how we continue to support democratic processes in India and around the world. In line with this, we are bringing more transparency to election advertising online, and surfacing relevant information to help people better navigate the electoral process,” said Google India’s Director for Public Policy, Chetan Krishnaswamy.