Google
The move by Google is intended to prevent advertisers from lying about their identity or otherwise misrepresenting themselves. The move will allow users to check the legitimacy of advertisements and prevent deceptive advertising from dubious sources, as well as help cut down on the number of fake businesses and scams that have proliferated across digital advertising platforms for some time.
Google will allow a 30 day grace period once advertisers are notified, advertisers must verify their identity before the 30 day period expires. If the period expires with no verification by the advertiser, Google will suspend their advertising account until the proper documentation is submitted. Similar measures are already in place for political advertisers, with the changes being implemented as concerns mounted about disinformation during midterm elections.
Once implemented, the changes will allow users to view disclosures when clicking the "why this ad" button on Google ads. The disclosure will reveal the identity and location of the advertiser.
Concerns over potentially deceptive advertisers have been raised in the past, including by Google. Previously, the company raised concerns about companies that advertised things such as third party tech support, bail bonds, payday loans, among others. Google has regularly taken such deceptive ads down, with the company removing 3.2 billion deceptive ads in a year.
The move also comes amid concerns of disinformation being spread about the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Deceptive ads touting bogus cures or intentionally misleading articles about treatments have been the target of intense scrutiny worldwide. Once implemented, the requirement of verified identities by advertisers could help consumers better research claims by ads claiming to have "miracle cures" or ads touting misleading headlines.
- https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/23/google-advertiser-verification-process-now-required.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/business/media/google-advertising.html
- https://gizmodo.com/google-will-make-all-advertisers-prove-they-are-who-the-1843034214
- https://searchengineland.com/google-will-roll-out-identity-verification-program-to-all-advertisers-333462