Dem groups ask Google to reconsider ads policy

he Democratic Party’s national campaign committees on Friday pressed Google to “reconsider” its recent decision to restrict political advertisements, escalating a pressure campaign against the tech giant over a policy change that will restructure how politicians and campaigns advertise online.

The joint statement from the Democratic Party’s most powerful campaign arms came several days after Google – which controls about 43 percent of the online advertising market – announced that it will no longer allow advertisers to micro-target political ads using real-world voter information, significantly paring down political advertisers’ ability to get their messages in front of the audiences they want.

“A blanket ban on all political advertising is a cop-out that fails to combat disinformation and harms voters’ ability to participate in our democracy, affecting voters of color in particular,” the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Democratic Congressional Campaign (DCCC) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) said in a joint statement.

The statement also served as a warning to Facebook, which is currently mulling changes to political advertising on its own platform.

“We call on these tech companies, including Google, to reconsider their decision to bluntly limit political advertising on their platforms, and we invite them to engage in an open and transparent conversation about how we effectively regulate political advertising online,” the campaign arms said.