Google to help EC track political ads

Google to help EC track political ads

News:

1. Election Commission to take strong step to address online Political Advertising with help of Google.

Important Facts:

2. Google will soon be helping the Election Commission (EC) keep tabs on online political advertising.

3. The Election Commission is the nodal body for pre-certification of advertisements of a political nature, released by either an individual or an organization.

4. A committee has been set up in view of the expansion and diversity of media platforms to explore possible modifications in

• Section 126 (election silence) and
• Provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

5. In the meeting with the committee, Google has proposed to develop a mechanism for:

• Ensuring pre-certification of political advertisements
• Sharing details about the expenditure incurred on its platforms with the authority.
• Helping Election Commission to keep track of political advertisements and
• Ensure that the advertisements are pre-certified by the EC’s Media Certification and Monitoring Committees.

6. As soon as a person is declared a candidate for any election, all the money spent by him/her for campaigning gets added as election expenditure.

7. The Commission also asks the candidates to declare their official social media accounts.

8. Google will be authorized, asking the prospective clients, whenever an order is placed, whether they have been pre-certified.

9. This would help the Returning Officers to calculate the election expenditure of individual candidates.