Google to help track fund spent on political ads

NEW DELHI: In a bid to promote “transparency” in online political advertisements ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Google is introducing an India-specific ad library, where people can get information on the amount of money spent on online ads featuring political content.
Both Congress social media and digital communications in-charge Divya Spandana and AAP social media strategist, Ankit Lal, supported the idea in principle but also pointed out the possible shortcomings of the initiative.A senior BJP social media official did not respond to TOI calls. The library, which will be functional from March this year, was formulated in consultation with the Election Commission of India (ECI), a statement put out by Google said.
It will provide comprehensive information about who is purchasing election ads on Google platforms. A breakup of the expenses will be provided in a weekly report available in the public domain, the statement further said.
Google India public policy director Chetan Krishnaswamy told TOI responding to an email, “The report will include details like who is purchasing elections ads on Google, how much they’re spending, what kinds of ads they’re running and election advertising totals around the country. It will be downloadable, and will include an API, to make it easy to work with the data.”
API is a particular set of codes and specifications that software programmes can follow to communicate with each other.