Google announced that it will start accepting political advertising again in the United States, starting on February 24, 2021. In January, Google announced that, as a result of the attack on the Capitol, it would not allow any political advertising on any of its platforms until after the Presidential inauguration.
In a statement, Google said, "We will continue to rigorously enforce our ads policies, which strictly prohibit demonstrably false information that could significantly undermine trust in elections or the democratic process."
For the United States, Google defines political advertising, that is subject to Google's political advertising policies, as advertising that features:
- A current officeholder or candidate for an elected federal office;
- A current officeholder or candidate for a state-level elected office;
- A federal or state level political party; or
- A state-level ballot measure, initiative, or proposition that has qualified for the ballot in its state.
Political advertising does not include ads for products or services, including promotional political merchandise like t-shirts, or ads run by news organizations to promote their coverage of federal election campaigns, candidates, or current elected federal officeholders.
Google requires that all political advertising show a disclosure that identifies who paid for the ad.
Google also includes country-specific political advertising policies for the Australia, Canada, European Union, India, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
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