Google to bring political ad spends on digital under the public gaze

Ahead of the Lok Sabha Election 2019, Google has announced that it's bringing more transparency to election advertising online and enabling voters to get the election-related information they need.

 

Google will introduce an India-specific Political Advertising Transparency Report and searchable Political Ads Library. These will provide comprehensive information about who is purchasing election ads on Google platforms and how much money is being spent. The India Political Ads Transparency Report and Ads Library will go live in March 2019.

 

The updated election ads policy for India will require advertisers that are running election ads in India to provide a ‘pre-certificate’ issued by the Election Commision of India (ECI) or anyone authorised by the ECI, for each ad they wish to run. 

 

Chetan Krishnaswamy, director - public policy, Google India said, “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.”