Last week, three Democratic committees condemned Google’s new policy that allows false advertisements on its platforms.
On Wednesday, Google announced its new policy that limits the ways ads can be targeted. They can’t be offered by political affiliation, but they can be targeted by age, gender and postal code.
The policy did not include anything about an advertisement needing to be true if it is targeting another candidate. Politicians can run advertisements that contain falsehoods, as long as the subject of the ad is not about voter suppression and election integrity.
On Friday, a statement from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) provided to CNN read, in part: “We stand in full support of tech platforms removing demonstrably false content and instituting better transparency standards. That approach combats the spread of disinformation without harming civic engagement or limiting the ability of campaigns to connect directly with voters … Tech companies should not reduce the power of the grassroots just because it is easier than addressing abuse on their platforms.”
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One advertisement, in particular, from the Trump reelection campaign that falsely accused former Vice President Joe Biden of corruption in Ukraine, was brought up to Google.
That ad can run on all of Google’s platforms, despite it being untrue.
“We call on these tech companies, including Google, to reconsider their decision to bluntly limit political advertising on their platforms, and we invite them to engage in an open and transparent conversation about how we effectively regulate political advertising online,” the joint statement from DNC CEO Seema Nanda, DSCC executive director Scott Fairchild and DCCC executive director Lucinda Guinn said. “We view this as critical to combating the spread of disinformation in paid communications, and vital to our ability to empower voters with true and accurate information.”
