In 2019, more than 850 million Indians are expected to cast their vote to elect the country’s next government. To support the democratic process, Google is bringing more openness to election advertising online, and helping connect people to useful and relevant election-related information. Here is how we will be providing support:

Helping people better understand the election advertising they see

To bring more transparency to election ads, Google will introduce an India-specific Political Advertising Transparency Report and searchable Political Ads Library . These will provide comprehensive information about who is purchasing election ads on our platforms and how much money is being spent. The India Political Ads Transparency Report and Ads Library will go live in March 2019.

In line with this, we have updated the election ads policy for India . The policy requires that advertisers running election ads in India provide a pre-certificate issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), or anyone authorized by the ECI, for each ad they wish to run. Further, Google will verify the identity of adve rtisers before their election ads run on our platforms. The advertiser verification process will begin on 14 February 2019.

In addition to t he Transparency Report and Ads Library, election ads on Google platforms will also disclose who has paid for the ad. Advertisers can refer to the India election ads policy for more details.

Getting voters the information they need

We know that in the build-up to elections, people need useful and relevant information to help them navigate the electoral process. For the Lok Sabha Election 2019, Google will make electoral information from the Election Commission of India and other authoritative sources easily discoverable on Search.

We’re thinking hard about elections and how we continue to support democratic processes in India and around the world. Today’s updates are a step forward in this direction, and we will continue to invest in initiatives that build further on our commitment towards election transparency.