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Placing Election Ads On Google Will Require a Government ID (gizmodo.com)

Google announced new policies Friday that will require advertisers to prove they are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident when buying election ads. "Under the new guidelines, Google will ask advertisers -- be they individuals, organizations, or political action committees -- to prove they are who they claim to be," reports Gizmodo. "It will also require the ads to include a clear disclosure of who is paying for it." From the report: The change comes after Google and other social media companies revealed their advertising platforms were abused by foreign actors, including the Russian government-backed troll farm Internet Research Agency, during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It also places Google's policies in line with U.S. laws for traditional media that restrict foreign entities from running election ads. Where Google's effort falls short, at least in its current iteration, is the new policies only cover ads featuring candidates running for office. So-called "issue ads" that advocate a certain point of view on hot-button topics are not covered in Google's policies.

28 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Unpossible to bypass! by ErikTheRed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, because if there's one thing foreign intelligence organizations are totally incapable of and stymied by, it's creating a fake ID.

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  2. Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by kronix1986 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seems perfectly reasonable to only allow citizens of a country to buy political adverts in that country during an election cycle.

    Can't wait to see how some people slam this new regulation as an attack on the free speech of Russians...

    1. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by Brett+Buck · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Unfortunately, they can still *vote* in many areas, legally or not, and many proposals to require ID have been rejected.

    2. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Can't wait to see how some people slam this new regulation as an attack on the free speech of Russians...

      I'm not going to slam this as I believe that Google is free to do as it likes as a private company, but what I will say is that I find it humorous that the people most likely to be in favor of this move are probably also the same people who are most likely to disapprove of any laws requiring a valid government ID to actually vote in an election.

    3. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by Ayano · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Then those states need to remove the 'poll tax' of the cost of an ID. Everyone seems to say 'but it's as easy as a driver's license' but not everyone has a car, you'd be surprised by the numbers.

      Make the IDs free, quick, and easily replaced, and you'd see more motion in this regard, but you don't. There's always a cost for IDs for some reason and when you put a cost on anything, there will be people who cannot afford it. And the moment you say "oh those poor people don't deserve to vote then" is the moment you cease being a true American.

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    4. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Then those states need to remove the 'poll tax' of the cost of an ID. Everyone seems to say 'but it's as easy as a driver's license' but not everyone has a car, you'd be surprised by the numbers.

      Make the IDs free, quick, and easily replaced, and you'd see more motion in this regard, but you don't. There's always a cost for IDs for some reason and when you put a cost on anything, there will be people who cannot afford it. And the moment you say "oh those poor people don't deserve to vote then" is the moment you cease being a true American.

      BULLSHIT.

      Texas did just that:

      Texas voter ID law can go into effect, appeals court panel rules

      And it still wasn't enough to satisfy "progressives".

      Why, you'd almost think the goal of "progressives" in fighting voter ID was to do things like allow illegal immigrants to commit vote fraud.

      "There's no vote fraud!"

      Again, BULLSHIT. How can you tell if there's vote fraud if you don't ID the voter? You can't.

    5. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Unfortunately, they can still *vote* in many areas, legally or not, and many proposals to require ID have been rejected.

      Yeah, except no. It doesn't happen. In fact, Trump disbanded his "election fraud" commission because after a year of work they couldn't find election fraud at any level higher than infinitesimal number of instances where some Republican in Texas tried to vote twice. That, and because the guy who Trump picked to head his "election fraud" commission has his own legal troubles.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0...

      https://www.reuters.com/articl...
       

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    6. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Make the IDs free, quick, and easily replaced, and you'd see more motion in this regard, but you don't. There's always a cost for IDs for some reason and when you put a cost on anything,

      It's not just the cost. In Texas, as soon as they passed voter ID laws, they closed a bunch of the State Safety offices where you obtain a state ID. But just in the minority areas of course.

      State voter ID laws always come as part of a suite of new laws designed to disenfranchise people who might not vote Republican.

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    7. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by superwiz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'll be the 1st. This does not attack the free speech of Russians. But attacking free speech of Russians in general is not better than attacking free speech of US citizens in particular. Free speech is afforded to all persons -- not all citizens. It is one of the moment important tenants of our society. And it is far, far, far better to allow speech to more people than to restrict in a way which does not allow trolls to troll. Hate speech should be legal. Offensive speech must be legal. Political speech should be legal for all (even for convicted felons). And if you don't like it, you are the one trying to undermine our Democracy.

      --
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    8. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by king+neckbeard · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because voter impersonation is mathematically the dumbest way to rig an election. It's high risk for low reward, and the risk grows exponentially, so you couldn't rig an election for dogcatcher without getting caught. Any other method, including legitimate campaigns, would be a much more effective strategy.

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    9. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2

      Seems perfectly reasonable to only allow citizens of a country to buy political adverts in that country during an election cycle.

      First, it must be noted that anonymous political speech is one of those things the Supremes have REPEATEDLY ruled in favour of.

      Second, finding a local dupe is easy, if you have a third of a billion people to select among.

      Third, we're getting to the point that the "election cycle" is all the time, and this will essentially mean that ALL political speech would be government regulated.

      IOW, I can't see how this could possibly go wrong....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    10. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by Immerman · · Score: 2

      Except we're not talking about speech in general - we're talking specifically about *advertising* - aka paying someone else to broadcast your speech to a large audience without their invitation. There are a LOT more restrictions on advertising than speech, and I see no reason why politics, particularly election ads, should get a free pass.

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      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    11. Re: Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Did he ever say First Amendment? Repeat after me: the first amendment is not free speech, free speech is not the first amendment. The first amendment enshrines free speech in the Constitution; but the concept of free speech exists independently of the First Amendment.

    12. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "There's no vote fraud!"

      Again, BULLSHIT. How can you tell if there's vote fraud if you don't ID the voter? You can't.

      Republicans know there is voter fraud. In the first person. https://www.denverpost.com/201...

      http://occupydemocrats.com/201...

      http://www.bradblog.com/?p=946...

      http://nhpr.org/post/mancheste...

      https://www.arktimes.com/arkan...

      http://archive.jsonline.com/ne...

      https://talkingpointsmemo.com/...

      https://www.nytimes.com/2012/0...

      Yesiree, Republicans know full well that there is voter fraud, and that is because so much Votter Fraud is performed by Republicans - highly ranked ones even - And your wet dream of a voter ID is going to do nothing, not one thing but eliminate a trite old chestnut of a talking point.

      Personally, I'm in favor of voter ID - but given that Republicans bring it up every election cycle like it is the cure blessed by God himself for them thar godless commiecrats and their letting them chocolate people - who always commit fraud, amirite? - is just Bullshit - to use your term.

      Phase it in, make it free ( hey, maybe we can get that Russian Oligarch who funnels money to Republicans through the NRA to chip in ) and start long before elections.

      But how is that going to actually stop Republican election fraud? Or is that Okay because the Republican party has shown it has a lock on the moral high ground?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    13. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      When the Democrats are out on election day filling busses with homeless people to take them to vote (this is a 'Get Out The Vote' activity that is formally planned and performed in every major election) it would be damned inconvenient for them to have to not only give the homeless person their free pack of cigarettes, but also verify they have the right to vote.

    14. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 2

      Because voter impersonation is mathematically the dumbest way to rig an election. It's high risk for low reward, and the risk grows exponentially, so you couldn't rig an election for dogcatcher without getting caught. Any other method, including legitimate campaigns, would be a much more effective strategy.

      Then why not require IDs? What are you afraid of? It won't change anything, right?

    15. Re:Surprised it wasn't already a requirement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Because some citizens legitimately don't have valid IDs.

  3. Shouldn't You ID Yourself When Buying ANY Ad? by dryriver · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you are advertising a product or service of any kind online, and making "promises" as to the "benefits" of throwing your "real world money" at it will have for you, shouldn't there be a solid record - a name, an ID number, a contact email and phone number, a valid business or personal address - of who the hell you are? If it is possible to buy online advertising anonymously - no ID of any kind required, just transfer some money somehow - you just made life super-easy for any kind of scammer selling any kind of scam online, whether political, or financial, or otherwise. So in my view, the verified ID information of SOMEONE who is behind the ad in question should be there, and it should be possible to QUERY that information as well. If I, as a person, am being subjected to hundreds of unwanted ads a day, some legit, some scams, shouldn't I have the right to be able to lookup who placed the ad? You're putting YOUR ad in MY webbrowser after all. Why wouldn't I be able to look up who placed or paid for the ad with a simple click?

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    Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
    1. Re:Shouldn't You ID Yourself When Buying ANY Ad? by hey! · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, sure, but why should Google care as long as they're getting their money?

      They're only doing this as a PR gesture. Note that this only applies to actual *campaign* ads -- not to ads promoting fake news.

      --
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  4. Who is the gatekeeper here... by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    So I think it's a great idea, that will really put some fear into Democrats and Republicans alike.

    However there's one last aspect I'd love to see - let me see the name on the ID that was approved for purchasing the ad. That would go a long way to uncovering a variety of shadow groups, including false flag ads...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Who is the gatekeeper here... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      However there's one last aspect I'd love to see - let me see the name on the ID that was approved for purchasing the ad. That would go a long way to uncovering a variety of shadow groups, including false flag ads...

      That's a good idea. It was also part of McCain/Feingold campaign reform. Get that done again and then all you have to do is overturn the Citizens United case and we might get back to something like fair elections.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:Who is the gatekeeper here... by mpercy · · Score: 2

      Note that Sec. Clinton won less than half of the popular vote and that only about half the eligible voters in the country voted so she represents about 25% of the US population. Her "about 25%" is slightly larger than his "about 25%", something like 26% to 24%. Hardly a mandate for her either.

      But this completely ignores the fact that people vote or not at least partly according to their perception that their vote will count. How many Republicans who might have voted for Trump in California simply did something else on election day because Clinton's victory in that winner-take-all state was assured? How many Democrats stayed home in Alabama in that winner-take-all state because they figure Trump had the state locked up?

      If we had a nationwide popular vote, the candidates' campaign strategies would be different, the response of voters would be different. Hell, states are not even required to have a popular vote for President. They are free to appoint their electors however they chose to do so. It just so happens that right now most states use a winner-take-all vote. Article II, Section 1: "Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct...". If California passed a law that allowed the Governor to simply appoint all of the states 55 electors however he (or she) likes--presumably on party lines--about 10M "popular votes" go poof.

      The "popular vote" is meaningless UNLESS that it the metric used for the actual election. Too many factors affect it otherwise. It wasn't.

      The system in effect was the Electoral College, with the numbers of votes per state know before hand and the number needed for a win. Clinton and her team knew EXACTLY how the EC system works. She campaigned accordingly, and STILL lost to an odious rookie whom she outspent by about 4:1. She lost 5 states that Obama carried twice.

      If this were a football game, an analogous case might be: Clinton had 658 yards of total offense while Trump had 629 yards, but Clinton lost by 4 touchdowns after having 5 turnovers. She simply failed to do the things necessary to score.

  5. Re:Fake ID? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

    Because foreign intelligence backed entities really care about legality? It's already very illegal to operate as an unregistered foreign operative in the US.

  6. How about just banning all election Ads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Election Ads are generally just plain wrong.

    It at most allow candidates to get through a simple black or white stance on issues rather than allowing people to understand the candidateâ(TM)s ideas, reasons, moral standing, motivations etc.

    Election Ads are mostly fake news anyway even if itâ(TM)s by US citizens.

    We should set a limit on campaign spending and have more robust debates rather than fucking Ads.....

  7. Re:What's Meuller gonna do now? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

    Pope Rat-so says:

    So where are the "Russians" that showed up in court?

    Wow, for months now, Russians have been popping up all over in every post you make, motherfucker. Now they've disappeared?

  8. Re: US ID by CoolDiscoRex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Anyone think this would be happening if Hilary had won?

  9. Will disproportionately impact people of color? by mpercy · · Score: 2

    Since people of color seem to be unable to get valid government-issued ID. That's always what we're told when voter ID legislation is on the line. So this new policy is just going to prevent people of color from making their voices heard on Google. Google is racist and just trying to suppress those voices.

  10. Re: Attempting to do what is already done? by mpercy · · Score: 2

    Which mass shooter got their weapons this way? Sandy Hook? Nope, he murdered his mother and stole her guns. Florida? Southland? Nope.

    The "guns-show loophole" simply doesn't exist in reality as it does in the minds of the gun confiscation crowd. Anyone purchasing a firearm from a dealer, even at a gun show, must go through the same ID, Form 4473, and background check as they would in a store. In truth, at any gun show there may be a few private individuals who might sell one or two firearms, without a check required, but they can do that without being at a gun show. It's simply a private sale. If you only make occasional sales of firearms from your personal collection, you do not need to be licensed.

    Also, background checks are required for all sales at gunshows in most blue states already (so if that's where mass shooters get their guns, by your logic, mass shootings in blue states demonstrate the failure of these laws).

    Also, it seems to me that gun "hoarders" would actually be a good thing. They own far more firearms than they can use at one time, so they are in fact keeping those weapons of the street.