{"id":17634,"date":"2020-03-15T14:32:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T14:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/googles-vint-cerf-voices-support-for-common-criteria-for-political-ad-targeting.html"},"modified":"2020-03-15T14:32:30","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T14:32:30","slug":"googles-vint-cerf-voices-support-for-common-criteria-for-political-ad-targeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/googles-vint-cerf-voices-support-for-common-criteria-for-political-ad-targeting.html","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s Vint Cerf voices support for common criteria for political ad targeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google <\/a> VP Vint Cerf <\/a> has voiced support for a single set of standards for internet platforms to apply around political advertising.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the U.K. parliament\u2019s Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee<\/a> today, the longtime Googler \u2014 who has been chief internet evangelist at the tech giant since 2005 \u2014 was asked about the targeting criteria it allows for political ads and whether he thinks there should be a common definition all platforms should apply.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour idea that there might be common criteria for political advertising I think has a certain merit to it,\u201d he told the committee. \u201cBecause then we would see consistency of treatment \u2014 and that\u2019s important because there are so many different platforms available for purposes of \u2014 not just advertising but political speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the U.S. we\u2019ve already experienced the serious side effects of some of the abuse of these platforms and the ability to target specific audiences for purposes of inciting disagreement,\u201d he added. \u201cWe should make it difficult for our platforms to be abused in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee had raised the point that Google and Facebook <\/a> currently apply different criteria around political ads \u2014 also asking whether advertisers could use Google\u2019s tools to target political issue ads at a particular geographical region, such as South Bend in Northern Indiana.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that criterion is allowed in our advertising system,\u201d Cerf responded on that specific example. \u201cI don\u2019t think that we\u2019re that refined, particularly in the political space\u2026 We have a small number of criteria that are permitted for targeting political ads.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last November<\/a> Google announced limits on political microtargeting \u2014 saying it would limit the ability for advertisers to target political demographics, and also committing itself to take action against \u201cdemonstrably false claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move remains in stark contrast to Facebook<\/a>, which dug in at the start of this year \u2014 refusing to limit targeting criteria for political ads. Instead it trumpeted a few settings tweaks that it claimed would afford users more controls over ads. As we (and many others<\/a>) warned at the time, such tweaks offer no meaningful way for Facebook users to prevent the company\u2019s pervasive background profiling of their internet activity from being repurposed as an attack surface to erode democracy.<\/p>\n

Last year<\/a> some of Facebook\u2019s own staff also criticized its decision not to restrict politicians from lying in ads and called for it to limit the use of Custom Audiences \u2014 arguing microtargeting works against the public scrutiny that Facebook claims keeps politicians honest. However, the company has held the line on refusing to apply limits to political ads \u2014 with the occasional exception<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The committee also asked Cerf if he has any concerns about online misinformation and disinformation emerging on platforms related to the novel coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n

Cerf responded by saying he\u2019s \u201cvery concerned about the abuse of the system and looking for ways to counter that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI use our tools every single day. I don\u2019t think I would survive without having the ability to search through the world wide web \u2014 get information \u2014 get answers. I exercise critical thinking as much as I can about the sources and the content. I am a very optimistic person with regard to the value of what\u2019s been done so far. I am very concerned about the abuse of the system and looking for ways to counter that \u2014 and those ways may be mechanical but they also involve the \u2018wet ware\u2019 up here,\u201d he said, gesturing at his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo my position is this is all positive stuff, but how do we preserve the value of what we defend against the abuse? \u2026 We\u2019re human beings and we should try very hard to make our tools serve us and our society in a positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/RKhMuRxJBoI\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google VP Vint Cerf has voiced support for a single set of standards for internet platforms to apply around political advertising. Speaking to the U.K. parliament\u2019s Democracy and Digital Technologies <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-17634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t