Google will suspend all political advertising once the last polls close on election day, according to a new report. The company, and other firms, are trying to avoid confusion and dishonesty about voting and vote counting processes.
A memo outlining the policy obtained by Axios says that the tech giant is trying to prevent the spread of misinformation and disinformation after votes are cast, given that counting the vote could take several days due to the prominence of mail-in votes. In 2020, President Biden was not declared the victor until four days after the November election.
Concerns about misinformation online have become more pronounced in recent weeks, especially with the spreading of blatant lies online and the use of artificial intelligence to create easily disprovable stories.
Google isn’t the only firm trying to limit the amount of confusion that may come as a result of disinformation and misinformation online.
In 2023, Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — announced that they would take new steps to ensure voters get the most accurate information possible about the election, voting, and outcomes. They are cracking down on the use of images, videos, and other content in advertising that was created using AI, and are preparing to correct any misleading information that dishonest actors may be putting out.
Meta is also continuing a policy of suspending advertising in the week leading up to the presidential election in order to prevent lies being spread on their platforms without giving any opposing parties the ability to contest claims.
“We will … block new political, electoral and social issue ads during the final week of the US election campaign. Ads that have previously run before this restriction period will be allowed to run during this time. Our rationale for this restriction period remains the same as it has since 2020: in the final days of an election, we recognize there may not be enough time to contest new claims made in ads,” says Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg.