Ahead Of 2019 Lok Sabha Polls, Facebook & Google Unite To Scrutinise Political Advertisements

Just as the world¡¯s largest democracy gears up for Lok Sabha Elections in April-May this year, tech giants Google and Facebook have vowed to ensure everything is honest and fair. Not too long ago, the Indian government was mulling over ways to block the public at large from social media sites if national security or public order were under threat, including to cushion against unrest during the course of the elections.

A month after Facebook announced that it would launch a digital library of political advertisements in India, Google has announced it will too follow suit.

The search giant just declared that it will be launching their own ¡®Advertising Transparency Report¡¯ and a ¡®Political Ads Library¡¯ in India. The library and report will provide information about who is purchasing election ads on Google¡¯s platforms and how much money is being expended.

Chetan Krishnaswamy, Director-Public Policy, Google India, in the report, said, ¡°In 2019, over 850 million Indians are expected to cast their vote to elect the country's next government. We're thinking hard about elections and how we continue to support democratic processes in India and around the world."

Reuters

Google said that they would verify the identity of individual advertisers before their election ads run appear anywhere on Google's platform. The verification process for election advertisements in India would begin on February 14, 2019. The report will go live in March.

Furthermore, Google will show a 'Paid for by' label on top of the political ad.

On December 6, 2018, Facebook said that anyone who wants to run political ads in India will must disclose their name and location.

¡°By authorising advertisers and bringing more transparency to ads, we can better defend against foreign interference in India¡¯s elections,¡± Sarah Clark Schiff, product manager at Facebook, said in a post announcing the move.

Twitter is also building an online library with its ¡®Ads Transparency Centre¡¯ announced on January 10, that is yet to roll out.

¡°Twitter is heavily used by the influencers and the politicians and the government in India, so we¡¯re very fortunate in that degree. And we want to make sure that we are doing what we can to make sure that we maintain the integrity of the conversation around the election,¡± said Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO.

AFP

Spending on advertising has already shot up ahead of the five-state assembly elections in December. The BJP emerged as the number one advertiser on television in India in the week ending 16 November, according to the latest Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data, as reported by the Economic Times.

The advertisements promoting the BJP in the run-up to elections appeared on TV channels 22,099 times.