Google to verify advertisers buying political ads

 San Francisco, May 5: Learning from the Facebook fiasco, Google has rolled out new policies for verifying election advertisers in the US that require additional verification for anyone who wants to purchase an election ad on Google in the country. “As a first step, we’ll now require that advertisers confirm they are a US citizen or lawful permanent resident, as required by law,” Kent Walker, Senior Vice President at Google, said in a statement late Friday. This means advertisers will have to provide a government-issued ID and other key information. “To help people better understand who is paying for an election ad, we also require that ads incorporate a clear disclosure of who is paying for it,” Walker added. The move comes in the wake of strong evidence that Russia used social media and online ads in an attempt to influence the 2016 US Presidential election. Google will soon release a new “Transparency Report” specifically focused on election ads.  (IANS)