Google and YouTube Suspend Political Ads During General Election Period..."Concerns Over Voter Confusion"

Google has decided not to run political advertisements during South Korea's general election period. This policy applies equally to all Google ads on YouTube, Google Search, Google Play Store, and other platforms.

According to industry sources on the 31st, Google recently announced that it will not support political advertisements during the South Korean general election period.

Google plans to maintain its existing policy of not posting ads featuring candidates for elected office or political parties in South Korea even after the election period ends. This is likely due to concerns that exaggerated or biased content in ads could confuse voters.

Additionally, to ensure accurate election-related information is delivered, Google will provide links on its homepage to authoritative information such as ‘how to vote’ and ‘voter registration methods.’ For example, on YouTube, various ‘election information panels’ will be displayed at the top of election-related information and news search results and below related videos, guiding users to credible sources.

Earlier, on February 16, Google, along with Microsoft (MS), TikTok, Meta, X (formerly Twitter), IBM, and others, signed a ‘Technical Agreement to Prevent Deceptive Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the 2024 Elections.’ This is aimed at countering deceptive harmful images, audio, and video content generated by AI intended to mislead voters in elections in South Korea and other countries this year.

Recently, Google has been labeling content created using generative AI features on YouTube, such as ‘Dream Screen.’ When content that appears real but has been altered or synthesized is produced, creators are required to disclose this, and labels are displayed so viewers can recognize it. Furthermore, Google is also restricting the types of responses from its general-purpose AI model ‘Gemini’ to election-related questions.

Google stated, “Supporting elections is an important responsibility for Google toward users and democratic processes. We are committed to providing voters with high-quality information, protecting the platform from misuse, and ensuring that AI-generated content can be identified.”