SAN FRANCISCO – Google is making it harder for political advertisers to target a specific demographic.
The company said that by January next year, advertisers will only be able to target political ads based on broad categories such as gender, age and postal code.
The change will take effect in the United Kingdom next week, before the general election, and in the European Union before the end of 2019. It will apply everywhere else in early January.
Google reiterated that ads making false claims including claims that could affect voter trust are prohibited.
The move follows Twitter’s ban on political ads, which goes into effect on Friday.
Twitter also placed restrictions on ads related to social causes such as climate change or abortion.
Facebook has not made sweeping changes to any of its ads policies, but thrust the issue into public discussion this fall when it confirmed it would not remove false or misleading ads by politicians.
Critics have harshly condemned Facebook’s decision. Twitter also faced a backlash from those who found its ban too far-reaching.
Even Google’s limited targeting could receive backlash.
Critics and civil rights groups have said targeting specific zip codes or other small geographic zones can allow advertisers to discriminate or sway elections.
The expansion to Google’s verification process will take effect on Dec. 3. (AP)
