Latest / Media, elections and online safety

PolicyMediaInternationalConfirmed

Google requires election advertisers to disclose synthetic content from November 2023

See how this story connects

Google updated its political content policy in September 2023 so that from mid-November 2023 verified election advertisers must clearly disclose when an ad contains synthetic content that inauthentically depicts real or realistic-looking people or events. The rule covers image, video and audio and exempts inconsequential edits such as resizing, cropping or colour correction.

Why it matters

Campaigns buying election ads on Google, YouTube and partner sites in every region with advertiser verification had to label AI-altered depictions ahead of the 2024 elections.

When
7 Sep 2023
ID
WTA-N-2023-0087
Who
Google

Summary by wheresthe.ai, from Google Advertising Policies Help and the reporting credited above. Checked against the source on 9 Oct 2026.

Source copy: download the page as saved on 18 Oct 2026 (PDF). Also held by the Internet Archive.

Next stop on this Storyline: What happened nextMeta says advertisers worldwide must disclose AI-altered political and social issue ads

Cite this story

WTA-N-2023-0087: “Google requires election advertisers to disclose synthetic content from November 2023.” wheresthe.ai, 7 Sep 2023. https://wheresthe.ai/d/google-political-ads-synthetic-content-disclosure-2023-09/ (source: Google Advertising Policies Help).

Spotted an error? Email [email protected].