Google again set to block election ads after polls close: report

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is again apparently set to block election ads across all its platforms with the closing of the last polls on Election Day, a continuing move to prevent voting misinformation.

That’s a policy it introduced with the 2020 election, and the tech giant is set to block the ads at poll closing again in 2024, according to a memo sent to ad partners and reported by Axios.

The company will pause all U.S. ads related to U.S. elections as of the closing of the last polls on Nov. 5, Axios said, citing the email.

That comes from an “abundance of caution and to limit the potential for confusion, given the likelihood that votes will continue to be counted after Election Day,” Axios hears from a Google spokesperson.

Google had pointed to its work preparing for the U.S. elections in a blog post at the end of August.

In 2020, Google lifted that post-election ban in December — well after Election Day but ahead of a runoff election in Georgia. That’s expected to be the case again this election.

Social rival Meta Platforms (META) will block new political, electoral and social issue ads during the final week of the campaign, the report points out.