Google Updates Policy About Election Ads With Digitally Altered Content

(RTTNews) - Google has updated its 'Political Content Policy', which would help advertisers to disclose election ads with digitally altered content more easily, to combat election misinformation.

The updated policy, covering all digitally manipulated images, audio, and/or videos, now requires marketers to select a checkbox in the "altered or synthetic content" section of their ad campaign settings while placing ads.

"We believe that users should have information to make informed decisions when viewing election ads that contain synthetic content that has been digitally altered or generated," the Alphabet-owned (GOOG) company stated.

For campaigns check-marked for synthetic content, Google will auto-generate in-ad disclosures in smartphone feeds, shorts, and in-stream ads.

Meanwhile, for all other formats, the advertisers must provide their own "prominent disclosure", such as "this image is computer-generated" or "this video is synthetically created".

"The disclosure must be clear and conspicuous, and must be placed in a location where it is likely to be noticed by users," the tech giant said.

Recently, a fake video of two Bollywood actors criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi went viral during India's general elections in 2024. The AI-generated ads urged people to support the opposition Congress party, as per Reuters.