In the US, Google showcases data regarding political ads and in India, ahead of the 2019 Loksabha Elections (General Elections) Google has announced that to bring transparency in election advertising online, Google will provide Political Advertising Transparency Report and searchable Political Ads Library. The data will be available publicly and anyone can find out information about who is spending on 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.

Commenting on the new policies, Chetan Krishnaswamy, Director – Public Policy, Google India said, “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.”

Google has already updated its election ads policy for India. From right now, advertisers running political ads will need to provide a pre-certificated issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) or anyone authorized by the ECI for each ad. Google will also verify the identity of advertisers before their election ads go live. Starting from February 14, the advertiser verification process will start. Google will provide useful and relevant information to people and will make electoral information from the Election Commission of India and other authoritative sources easily discoverable on Search. After March 31, people can view all the ads on which political parties spent money and can get detailed information regarding each and every ad in the Political Ads Library.

An optimist to the core, I always see the glass half full. I like to take life as it comes and not to become too serious on the harsher aspects of it. Apart from this, I am an Engineer, a Blogger & a Researcher....

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