Google announces new political ad rules, limits microtargeting to age, gender, and general location categories, will start enforcing them in UK within a week

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The Keyword 2019-11-21 Scott Spencer

Context & Ripple Effects

This announcement extends a compliance arc Google began a year earlier, when it said it would require advertiser verification for EU political ads starting in January. The new step goes further: instead of just vetting who buys political ads, Google now caps what they can target, restricting microtargeting to age, gender, and general location categories — and it moves fast, enforcing in the UK within a week.

The immediate reception was hostile from both directions. Coverage of the rollout shows the limits shaking up campaign ad plans and frustrating Democrats and Republicans alike, who had built strategies around reaching narrow voter slices.

First-order effects

Campaigns buying state and federal candidate ads must rebuild their media plans around broad categories only, and both parties lose the narrow-segment tactics they had planned around — coverage of the change reports frustration across the aisle rather than an advantage to either.

Second-order effects

Advertisers' incentive shifts to workarounds: within days, reporting surfaced that a policy loophole letting advertisers buy spots with their own first-party targeting data can route around the microtargeting limits entirely, moving the battleground from Google's categories to campaign-owned voter files.
Rival platforms running political ads face pressure to match or explain why their targeting remains finer-grained than Google's now-published baseline.

Third-order effects

If platform rules keep tightening faster than legislation — verification in 2018, category caps in 2019, and later query-level election guardrails such as limits on what Bard and SGE answer about elections — the effective regulatory layer for political persuasion becomes private ad-policy documents rather than statute, with enforcement speed set by each platform's own calendar.

The trend: Platforms are substituting self-imposed broad-category rules for granular political microtargeting, making ad-policy documents the de facto regulation of digital campaigning.

Discussion

Vox Theodore Schleifer on x
Google transformed the political advertising world with its reversal on targeting
@fbnewsroom @fbnewsroom on x
Our statement on Google's political ad news: For over a year, we've provided unprecedented transparency into all US federal & state campaigns & we prohibit voter suppression in all ads. As we've said, we are looking at different ways we might refine our approach to political ads.
@shanegoldmacher Shane Goldmacher on x
This Google political ad policy change is significant and ricocheting across the political world https://blog.google/...
@jillianiles Jillian D'Onfro on x
Google political ads update: Election ad targeting now limited to age, gender, and general location. Also, more explicitly prohibiting ads w deep fakes, misleading claims about the census process, or w/ “demonstrably false claims” on an electoral process https://blog.google/...
@mhbergen Mark Bergen on x
So Google's delay on political ads may be that it was updating its *entire* ads policies: bans ‘deep fakes’ and ‘demonstrably false claims’ about politics. Story (more coming soon) https://www.bloomberg.com/... Google post https://www.blog.google/...
@teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x
This is good news for candidates with more money who can “afford” to be inefficient. Bad news for those with less money that *need* micro-targeting more. https://blog.google/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
This is also a likely Facebook move. https://twitter.com/...
@squawkcnbc Squawk Box on x
After Google's ad policy change announced last night, Facebook is “caught in the squeeze as the only company that's allowing false ads. It's not a great look for them and it actually draws them into the political problems without any benefit whatsoever,” says @karaswisher. https:…
@davmicrot David Rothschild on x
Google controls somewhere between 35-40% of US digital ad revenue https://www.blog.google/... it is slightly less than 2x Facebook. Their decisions to limit targeting and prohibit “demonstrably false claims” is very significant for how the market will go.
@aaronklein Aaron Klein on x
This may be the dumbest thing I've read all year. #1 Incumbent politicians backed by big money LOVE this policy — they can afford to be inefficient with ad dollars. #2 Leave it to the social justice mob to bully tech companies into being less efficient than junk mail. 🤦‍♂️ https:…
@michaelduncan Michael Duncan on x
Horrible @Google decision that will hurt cash-strapped grassroots campaigns. They're placating a mob that will never be satisfied & undermining the foundation of the Internet economy. The business they haven't destroyed themselves, just welcomed further regulation that will. http…
@henshaw Jon Henshaw on x
“No political ads” - @Twitter “We're limiting election ads audience targeting to the following general categories: age, gender, and general location” - @Google Your move @Facebook https://blog.google/...
@steveolson @steveolson on x
Well, this is a BFD... Google is now limiting political ad targeting to age, gender, ZIP, and context... https://www.blog.google/...
@natematias J. Nathan Matias on x
Google has announced its advertising policies for the upcoming UK election, in the EU, and into 2020. They are underlining their policy against false ads and restrictions on the characteristics where they will allow targeting https://www.blog.google/...
@tarawlevy Tara Walpert Levy on x
Greater targeting restrictions for election ads and clarifications of our misrepresentation policy to help ensure ongoing confidence in what voters see on our platforms. https://blog.google/...
@ddayen David Dayen on x
They could, hear me out, ban all ad targeting https://www.axios.com/...
@lauraolin Laura Olin on x
Google announcing a shift political ad policy after 10 hours of impeachment hearings and before a presidential debate is the industry equivalent of a Friday news dump https://blog.google/... https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
thus far every defense from a major advertising platform unwilling — or, more likely, unable — to police their ads *at their current scale* is predicated on the idea that they should continue to exist in their current, sprawling form https://blog.google/... https://twitter.com/..…
@bradonmessage Brad Todd on x
In mega markets like SoCal, NY, and Chicago, @google has just ensured that (even primary) voters will learn far less about their candidates. Much more consequential move than @Twitter's ban because real people are not on Twitter. https://twitter.com/...
@juliarosen Julia Rosen on x
This basically makes spend on the Google ad network (a HUGE portion of the internet) nearly as dumb as broadcast tv ads. https://www.blog.google/...
@tonyromm Tony Romm on x
NEW: Google limits political advertisers' ability to target users on narrow political characteristics — but doesnt fully bar their ability to lie — in updates announced this evening. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@zachmontellaro Zach Montellaro on x
A potential unintentional consequence of the new Google ad targeting policy? It could negatively affect downballot and insurgent candidates a lot more than presidential ones (or well heeled incumbents). My story on the early reaction https://www.politico.com/...
@wilsonwpa Chris Wilson on x
This is sad. It's bad for democracy and the winners are: -platforms (make more $) -incumbents (harder for challenger candidates) -millionaire candidates (they can afford big, non targeted buys) Losers: -the voters https://twitter.com/...
@ecmclaughlin Elizabeth C. McLaughlin on x
Your move, Facebook. https://twitter.com/...
@luca Luca Hammer on x
Google reduces the targeting options for political ads to age, gender and postal code. This applies to YouTube as well. https://blog.google/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
Facebook has been dropping sideways hints for two weeks that it was going to limit microtargeting but hasn't really come out with anything yet google getting the jump on them with at least some limitations on political ads probably no bueno for FB https://www.nytimes.com/... http…
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
this, fwiw, has been FB's talking point for a while — limiting microtargeting will F over the little guys
@longhornderek @longhornderek on x
This is a really dumb move. Candidates running in primaries are now supposed to advertise to people who aren't even in the party they are affiliated with? https://twitter.com/...
@damiancollins Damian Collins on x
Big step by Google on restricting targeting tools for political ads. Facebook should follow this and remove tools such as ‘lookalike audiences’ for political campaigns, as well as agreeing to act against disinformation ads and removing known ‘deep fakes’ https://twitter.com/...
@indianexpress @indianexpress on x
Google said while it has never allowed any advertiser — including politicians — to make false assertions, it was clarifying its policy to explicitly ban ads that make “false claims that could undermine participation of trust” in the election process http://bit.ly/2rdVbKE
@glynmoody Glyn Moody on x
micro-targeting on the way out: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@shanegoldmacher Shane Goldmacher on x
Story with @daiwaka: Google's new political ad policy leaves campaigns scrambling “It eliminates our ability to target based on any personal information” https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@sarafischer Sara Fischer on x
🚨NEW—Google is making changes to its political ad policy to limit micro-targeting Why it matters: Comes weeks after Twitter said it's banning political ads. FB VP Carolyn Everson told me Monday FB still considering changes to its policy. Story on @axios: https://www.axios.com/...
@rasmus_kleis Rasmus Kleis Nielsen on x
Wouldn't be surprised if Facebook ends up adopting similar position. 1) limit targeting+tighten rules, 2) continue to allow political ads (which politicians want and it makes $) 3) make very small, very targeted sometimes problematic ad buys that make very little $ less useful ht…
@juddlegum Judd Legum on x
According to this report, Google will prohibit political ads with “demonstrably” false claims, leaving Facebook as the only major social network that allows lies in ads https://twitter.com/...
@emilyglazer Emily Glazer on x
SCOOP: Facebook may boost minimum amount of people targeted by political ads to spurn spread of misinformation, among other potential changes under discussion: https://www.wsj.com/...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
It has been surreal to see Facebook paralyzed by indecision here while Twitter takes decisive action. It is almost always the exact opposite https://twitter.com/...

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