Google announces stricter rules for political ad targeting

Google is changing the way it handles political ads. 

In a blog post Wednesday, the company said it will limit election ads' audience targeting to age, gender and location, while banning targeting by political affiliation (such as left-leaning, right-leaning and independent) and public voter records (which was, until now, allowed in the U.S.).

Google says this will align its political ads practices to how things are done in traditional media like TV, radio, and print. 

"Given recent concerns and debates about political advertising, and the importance of shared trust in the democratic process, we want to improve voters' confidence in the political ads they may see on our ad platforms," Scott Spencer, Google Ads VP of Product Management, wrote in the post.  Read more...