- Google has said it will simplify how advertisers disclose election ads using digitally altered content to depict actual or realistic-looking people or events.
- The announcement comes as the US presidential race is heating up and GenAI’s rapid growth raises concerns about its possible misuse.
Google has announced that it will simplify how advertisers disclose election ads that use digitally altered content to represent actual or realistic-looking events or people. This is the search engine major’s latest step in combating election misinformation.
The update to the disclosure requirements under Google’s political content policy requires that marketers select a checkbox in the “altered or synthetic content” section of their campaign settings.
The company said it will create an in-ad disclosure for Shorts and feeds on cell phones and in-streams on computers and television. For any other format, advertisers need to write their own noticeable disclosures for users. Further, the “acceptable disclosure language” will depend on the ad’s context.
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Google’s move comes as the 2024 US presidential race is heating up. Simultaneously, the rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), which can quickly create images, text, and videos, has raised concerns about its possible misuse. Moreover, the rise of deepfakes is blurring the lines between the fake and the real.
Earlier in May, Sam Altman-led OpenAI claimed it had disrupted five covert influence operations that intended to use AI models to “attempt and manipulate public opinion or influence political outcomes.”
Besides Google, other companies have taken actions to mitigate the risk of AI interfering in the upcoming US elections. For example, Meta platforms said last year that it would make it mandatory for advertisers to disclose whether AI or other digital tools were being used to create or alter social, political, or election-related ads on Facebook and Instagram. Microsoft has taken similar initiatives, including features that allow the watermarking of digital ads that prevent alteration without leaving evidence of tampering. Further, leading tech companies like Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Amazon have entered an agreement to reduce the risk of AI interfering in the 2024 US elections.