Google to block election ads after November 3

(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google will block election ads on its platform after the U.S. election on Nov. 3, a company spokeswoman said on Friday.

Axios, which first reported the news, said Google mailed advertisers saying they will not be able to run ads “referencing candidates, the election, or its outcome, given that an unprecedented amount of votes will be counted after election day this year.” Axios link: https://www.axios.com/google-to-block-election-ads-after-election-day-4b60650d-b5c2-4fb4-a856-70e30e19af17.html

Social media companies have been facing growing pressure to stop carrying ads that spread false information and could steer election results.

Facebook Inc also said it would stop accepting new political ads in the week before the election and would reject ads that seek to claim victory before the results of the election are declared.

Twitter Inc banned political ads last year, while Google has previously limited the ways election advertisers could micro-target voters.

Google’s new policy will target ads that are explicitly election-related as well as any other types of ads that reference federal or state elections, or ads that run based on targeting election-related search queries, the Axios report said.

(Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru and Elizabeth Culliford; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)