Google will now make it mandatory to disclose if election ads on their platform include digitally altered content to depict realistic or real people or events in an effort to battle misinformation ahead of upcoming elections.

Advertisers will be required to tick a checkbox in the “altered or synthetic content” section under Google’s campaign settings under the new disclosure requirements.

The hastening, haphazard expansion of generative AI content, which can generate images, text, and video in seconds based on prompts, has ushered in a new era of misinformation and disinformation.

Deepfakes, images and videos created by AI which realistically depict often real people in fake scenarios or saying false statements, have been the scourge of modern election campaigns as advocacy groups, parties, and politicians try to battle the pernicious proliferation of AI doppelgangers.

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To combat misinformation, Google says it will introduce in-ad disclosure for videos and feeds on mobile phones, computers, and television. Across other platforms and formats, advertisers will be mandated to include a prominent disclosure of AI-generated content for users.

Google has previously taken precautions and measures to mitigate the spread of deepfakes and AI-generated content ahead of global elections. It stopped its AI chatbot, Gemini, from answering any election-related queries ahead of the general elections in India this year.

YouTube, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, introduced a tool to flag AI generated videos and content ahead of global elections to better inform users.

Tech organisations, including Meta, Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft, also signed onto an Accord to battle the use of AI to generate deceptive content ahead of elections this year.

2024 will see more voters than ever before in history elect officials across at least 64 countries, including the UK, US, and India. Amid major global conflicts, tumultuous economic headwinds, and the looming climate crisis, tensions are high, and the battle to quell misinformation is of the highest stakes.