Google cracked down on 2.9 million ad accounts during India’s Lok Sabha election year
New Delhi: In a sweeping global crackdown on digital advertising violations, Google said that it took down over 2.9 million ad accounts originating from India during the 2024 Lok Sabha election year.
The tech giant disclosed this data in its 2024 Ads Safety Report, noting a significant increase in enforcement actions compared to the previous year. As cited by The Indian Express on Thursday, Google blocked or removed more than 10.7 million election-related ads from unverified advertisers globally—up 46 percent from 7.3 million in 2023.
“The volume of election ads compared to our overall numbers is very small. But it’s a very important set, which is why we take additional focus on election ads. The big outlier at the top-level is accounts suspended, and those were more for broader concerns around scams or fraud,” IE report quoted Alex Rodriguez, General Manager, Ads Safety, Google, as saying.
Although Rodriguez declined to disclose the percentage of overall election ads in 2024, he emphasised that 2024 saw numerous political parties spending substantial sums of money on digital advertising campaigns in the run up to the general elections.
According to the saffron party’s expenditure report on contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—which returned to power for a third consecutive term—spent Rs 156.95 crore on advertisements through Google-owned platforms, and an additional Rs 24.63 crore on Meta platforms.
Google said that it blocked or removed a total of 5.1 billion ads last year and 39.2 million advertiser accounts globally, a dramatic increase from 12.7 million advertiser accounts in 2023, the report added. Out of the 39.2 million, around 2.9 million suspended ad accounts were registered in India. The majority of these accounts were taken down before they served a single ad, the search giant clarified.
A concerning trend identified in 2024 was the rise in public figure impersonation scams, where malicious actors used AI-generated images and audio to falsely an affiliation from celebrities or politicians. Rodriguez noted that these elements were promoted widely as advertisements on Google’s platforms.
Apart from removing policy-violating ads, Google also restricts content that may be legally contentious or culturally inappropriate based on the audience and the region.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
