Google has reported a significant surge in its enforcement against misleading and fraudulent advertising, with a notable focus on political ads during India’s 2024 Lok Sabha elections. According to its 2024 Ads Safety Report, the tech giant suspended 2.9 million ad accounts originating from India, part of a broader crackdown that saw 5.1 billion ads blocked globally and 39.2 million advertiser accounts taken down, a dramatic increase from 12.7 million the previous year.
The crackdown comes in the backdrop of India’s high-stakes general election, where political parties, including the BJP, spent heavily on digital campaigns. The BJP alone spent Rs 156.95 crore on Google platforms, according to its poll expenditure report, indicating the critical role digital ads played in electioneering.
Tightening Election Ad Policies and Verification
Globally, 10.7 million election ads from unverified advertisers were removed in 2024, up 46% from 2023. Google attributed the spike to heightened enforcement and updated policies requiring election ads to include “paid for by” disclosures and, more recently, labels for AI-generated content. In India, where the Lok Sabha elections witnessed intense digital campaigning, this framework became particularly relevant.
The company also said it had verified around 8,900 new election advertisers last year and now covers over 200 countries under its verification programme. It estimates that over 90% of ads seen globally now come from verified advertisers.
Scams, AI Deepfakes, and Public Figure Impersonation on the Rise
One of the most alarming trends in 2024 was the rise in scams involving AI-generated deepfakes of public figures. Google suspended 700,000 ad accounts for promoting such impersonations and claims to have reduced these scams by 90% following the crackdown.
Of the 5.1 billion blocked ads:
415 million were related to scams,
146 million violated gambling policies,
122.5 million violated adult content rules.
In India, this has relevance due to repeated advisories from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting against betting and gambling promotions. Google acknowledged working to restrict such ads in accordance with regional laws and sensitivities.
Cultural and Legal Sensitivities Drive 9.1 Billion Ad Restrictions
In addition to removing harmful ads, Google also restricted 9.1 billion ads based on legal or cultural contexts. Of these:
428.8 million were restricted for legal reasons,
108.9 million for gambling and games,
115.1 million for copyright issues,
106.6 million related to healthcare and medicines.
Google also took action on 1.3 billion publisher pages and applied site-level restrictions on over 220,000 publisher sites.
As digital ad spend continues to grow and elections increasingly rely on digital outreach, platforms like Google face mounting pressure to balance free expression with safety, misinformation control, and regulatory compliance — especially in politically and culturally sensitive regions like India.
