San Francisco (AFP)

After Twitter's decision to ban all political ads, and that of Facebook to allow all, Google said Wednesday its position, rather tolerant of the statements made by candidates, saying that "no one could rule on all political affirmations and insinuations ".

The technology giant, which derives the overwhelming majority of its revenues from advertising, wants to reinforce its already existing rules by banning the publication of patently false messages (such as a fake polling date) or by preventing ultra-specific targeting of ads. voters.

"Whether you're a legislative candidate or placing an ad for office furniture, we apply the same rules to everyone, there's no tailor-made exception," says Scott Spencer, vice president of group in charge of advertisements.

The dominant search engine intends to strengthen its regulation to fight against "deep fakes", (hyper-realistic photos or fake videos) and ads that could "significantly impede the participation or trust in the electoral process or democratic "(as an affirmation that you can vote by text message).

But on the problem of candidates who seek to disseminate false information - the heart of the subject for many elected - Google's position is very similar to that of Facebook.

"We recognize that robust political dialogue is an important part of democracy, and no one can reasonably rule on all political claims, counter-claims and insinuations," says Spencer.

- Facebook thinks -

"We think we will ultimately ban only a very limited number of political ads," he adds.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's boss, defended political messages on his network last month, including whether they contained lies or untruths, in the name of freedom of expression. In particular, he believes that these advertisements are useful for small candidates who risk being ignored by the media.

"We believe that the reach of a political message must be earned, not bought," wrote Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on October 30, announcing that his network would no longer accept any political ads where be it in the world.

The debate is tearing apart from the American political scene. Facebook's arguments do not satisfy many elected representatives, especially Democrats, in the face of Donald Trump's repeated efforts to spread false information about opposition candidates.

Joe Biden, Democratic candidate for the White House, has criticized Facebook for refusing to withdraw an advertisement of the president relaying lies against him.

Mark Zuckerberg said last week that he plans to reconsider some of his controversial decision.

"We are exploring ways to refine our approach to political advertising," said Joe Osborne, a spokesman for Facebook on Wednesday.

- Like on TV -

Google sells ad slots on search results pages, videos on its YouTube platform, and in banners on sites.

"Given recent concerns and debates around political announcements (...), we want to improve voter confidence in advertisements of this type that they could see on our platforms," ​​says Scott Spencer.

Google says it has never allowed targeting very refined for political ads, and intends to restrict a little more. The only criteria available will be age, gender, and area of ​​residence, not to mention the context (for example, a candidate's message on taxes next to an article on economics).

"Our approach will be aligned with long-standing media practices such as television, radio and the press, and will allow election advertising to be seen more widely in public debate," says Spencer.

The group will also extend its rules on transparency (which finances advertising) to elections in US states, not just at the federal level.

These changes will be implemented next week in the United Kingdom ahead of the elections, in the rest of the European Union by the end of the year and everywhere else from 6 June 2020.

© 2019 AFP