Google Prohibits Political Advertising Circulating Until US Election Voting Completed

JAKARTA - Google has decided to block political advertising, both during the presidential election campaign and up to a week after the voting process in the United States (US). This is done to reduce the spread of misinformation ahead of the US election on November 3.

"Advertisers will not be able to run ads referencing candidates, elections or the results, given the number of votes will be counted after election day this year," wrote Google as quoted by Reuters, Tuesday, September 29.

Even so, experts warn that election results could be postponed given the increase in email voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Google ensures that it will continue to prohibit election campaign ads from circulating on its platform.

Whether it concerns state or federal officials, candidates or political parties, and ads that run on election-related search lists. On the other hand, social media companies are also facing increasing pressure on misinformation in political advertising.

Facebook recently said it would stop accepting new political ads in the week before the election and would reject ads seeking to claim victory before election results were announced.

A Google spokesman, told Reuters, said the ban was expected to be enforced for at least a week, but it had not been decided when the ban would be lifted. Google will consider a number of factors, such as the time it takes to count votes or whether there is civil unrest.

The ban is part of Google's "sensitive events" policy, according to a spokesman. Google has blocked several advertisements related to COVID-19 under the same policy, working to prohibit content that is potentially exploitative or less event sensitive.

The prohibition will apply to all advertisements on Google's ad serving platform, including its video streaming services, Youtube and Google Ads. Twitter has banned political advertising since last year, with Google previously limiting the way election advertisers can micro-target voters.