Google has announced it’s strengthening its ad policy in an attempt to counter inaccurate information ahead of the November election. Under the policy changes, advertisers who work together to conceal their identities and distribute misinformation and those who use illegally obtained information will be banned on Google and YouTube, said Google spokeswoman Charlotte Smith. Both changes, which go into effect September 1st, tighten and clarify existing regulations.
"Over the past few years, we’ve introduced political ads safeguards to prevent foreign interference, limit targeting, and increase transparency in the election ads users see,” Smith said in a statement. “To bolster these efforts, today we are expanding our policies to prevent the coordinated spread of disinformation from domestic actors who conceal their identity and illegally obtained materials via ads. We believe these new measures strike the right balance in helping preserve trust in our elections while allowing for robust dialogue and public discourse about current events.”