GOOG Alphabet Inc

By Patience Haggin 

Google said it would require all advertisers to verify their identities to purchase ads through the company's ad-buying software, a move that would help it crack down on ads purveying misinformation or products related to the coronavirus.

Ads have proliferated online promoting fake vaccines and other misleading products. Google's policy will apply to ads purchased through its ad-buying software Display & Video 360 on Google searches, Google-owned YouTube and third-party websites around the world.

The policy was in the works for several months before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus and the crisis didn't accelerate the process, a Google spokeswoman said.

Google's move is intended to "help support the health of the digital advertising ecosystem by detecting bad actors and limiting their attempts to misrepresent themselves," wrote John Canfield, Google's director of product management for ads integrity, in a blog post.

Alphabet Inc.'s Google is the world's largest seller of digital advertising. Its ad businesses, including YouTube, search and third-party website ads, brought in nearly $135 billion last year.

Google introduced its verification process for advertisers purchasing political ads in 2018. The company's political ad policing has faced criticism for relying on ad buyers to self-designate their ads as political.

Extending the verification requirement to all ad buyers will help the company crack down on actors who may be purchasing ads containing political content without registering them as such.

The Google spokeswoman said that further regulating political ads wasn't part of the motivation for the policy announced Thursday.

Facebook Inc., the world's second-largest seller of digital ads, requires political advertisers to verify their personal and organizational identities, but it doesn't require commercial advertisers to do so. Facebook declined to comment.

To complete Google's verification process, each advertiser must provide legal documentation, such as an Internal Revenue Service tax document showing the organization's name, address and employer identification number. An individual from the organization must present a government-issued photo ID to verify his or her identity.

Existing advertisers will be notified in phases of the requirement and will have 30 days to complete the verification process once notified, or see their accounts suspended. The process will take a few years to complete, Google said.

Write to Patience Haggin at patience.haggin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 23, 2020 15:17 ET (19:17 GMT)

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