Google: “Introducing a new transparency report for political ads”

Blog post:

We first launched our Transparency Report in 2010 with the goal of fostering important conversations about the relationship between governments, companies, and the free flow of information on the internet.

Over the years, we’ve evolved the report, adding sections about content removed from Google Search due to European privacy laws, adoption of encryption on websites (HTTPS), and more. And today, we’re adding another new section to our Transparency Report: Political Advertising on Google.

Earlier this year, we took important steps to increase transparency in political advertising. We implemented new requirements for any advertiser purchasing election ads on Google in the U.S.—these advertisers now have to provide a government-issued ID and other key information that confirms they are a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, as required by law. We also required that election ads incorporate a clear “paid for by” disclosure. Now, we’re continuing to roll out new transparency features with the addition of the political advertising report as well as a new political Ad Library.

As I understand it, these do not apply to issue ads at all. A very different strategy than Facebook. UPDATE and correction: Some issue ads are covered.  Here’s what Google says in its FAQ:

This report includes ads that feature federal candidates or current elected federal officeholders. In the United States, elected federal offices include those of the President and Vice President, as well as members of the House of Representatives and Senate.

More on this later.

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