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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Illegally stored gas cylinders seized
Thane (PTI): Authorities have seized illegally stored 1,839 gas cylinders and seven vehicles worth over Rs 67 lakh in the Dombivli MIDC area of Thane district, officials said on Saturday.
A special vigilance team of the Mumbai Rationing Department detected an illegal storage of domestic and commercial LPG cylinders in Phase-2 of Dombivli (East).
Cylinders belonging to multiple gas agencies were found stockpiled in closed vehicles, unauthorised warehouses, and open sheds without mandatory permissions from the Explosives Department, Fire Department, or oil companies, according to an official release.
