Politics

The big picture: Google is making changes to its political advertising policy that will restrict verified entities from running ads that target very specific groups of people. The company says it's mostly clarifying existing rules on misleading content, but the changes will likely be very visible thanks to its vast global ad network. Google is the latest web giant to announce changes to its political ads policy. And just like Snapchat, the search giant wants to place itself in the middle ground between the permissive rules of Facebook and the outright ban practiced by Twitter. The company says it will continue to protect the integrity of campaigns and elections, while doing its best to surface the most relevant and authoritative political news. At the same time, it wants to improve voter confidence that political ads promoted on its platforms don't contain misleading content and are only allowed to be run by verified political advertisers. Google outlined three key changes to its … [Read more...] about Google outlines new, restrictive political ads policy that limits microtargeting

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images On Thursday, Attorney General William Barr released the long-anticipated Mueller report. With it comes a useful overview of how Russia leveraged U.S.-based social media platforms to achieve its political ends. While we’ve yet to find too much in the heavily redacted text that we didn’t already know, Mueller does recap efforts undertaken by Russia’s mysterious Internet Research Agency or “IRA” to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. The IRA attained infamy prior to the 2016 election after it was profiled in depth by the New York Times in 2015. (That piece is still well worth a read.) Considering the success the shadowy group managed to achieve in infiltrating U.S. political discourse — and the degree to which those efforts have reshaped how we talk about the world’s biggest tech platforms — the events that led us here are worth revisiting. IRA activity begins in 2014 In Spring of … [Read more...] about Mueller report details the evolution of Russia’s troll farm as it began targeting US politics

Vote! Ads will be restricted to using "age, gender, and general location (postal code level)." Jason England 21 Nov 2019 0 Source: Android CentralWhat you need to know Google is placing new limitations on the targeting of political ads, beginning next week in the UK and worldwide on January 6, 2020. Previously, political ads could be targeted using "public voter records and general political affiliations (left-leaning, right-leaning, and independent)" in the U.S. Going forward, political ads will be restricted to "age, gender, and general location (postal code level)." Whether we like it or not, tech companies are becoming integral to the election process. All you have to do is look back at the scandal with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica to see just how influential they can be and why we should all be concerned. Thankfully, some tech companies are stepping up and doing something about it. Some are doing more than others though, for example, Twitter has decided to ban … [Read more...] about Google places more limitations on political ads ahead of elections

Big move Twitter says the move isn't about free expression but paying for reach. Babu Mohan 31 Oct 2019 8 Source: Android CentralWhat you need to know Twitter has announced that it will be banning all political ads on its platform starting next month. Ads supporting voter registration, however, will still be allowed. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says the final policy will be made public by November 15. Starting November 22, all political advertising on Twitter will be stopped globally. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wrote in a tweet that the company believes "political message reach should be earned, not bought." A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money. We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach … [Read more...] about Twitter decides to ban all political advertising on its platform from November 22

Google on Wednesday unveiled updates to its political advertising policy, restricting how narrowly an advertiser can target an audience. With the new policy, election ads will only be able to target people based on age, gender and postal code. The search giant also spelled out clearer guidelines on what kinds of ads are prohibited from its platforms. The company said "deepfakes," or digitally doctored images and videos, aren't allowed. Google is also banning "demonstrably false claims that could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process." The company noted, though, that it's difficult to judge every claim or insinuation made in an ad. "So we expect that the number of political ads on which we take action will be very limited, but we will continue to do so for clear violations," Scott Spencer, vice president of product management for ads, said in a blog post. Google also said it's expanding its database and transparency tools … [Read more...] about Google updates political ads policy with targeting restrictions