Thread by @EllenLWeintraub

*Very* big news last night in internet political ads.

@Google’s plan to eliminate #microtargeting is a move that – if done right – could help make internet political advertising a force that informs and inspires us, rather than isolating and inflaming us.

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Google’s reach is wider than you might think; this policy extends to @Google search ads, @YouTube ads, & their huge display-ad business.

The plan kicks off next week in the UK, by the end of the year in the EU, and on Jan. 6, 2020 everywhere else. blog.google/technology/ads…

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Though I have some concerns about the details, at the macro level, @Google's plan looks pretty good.

It picks up two major recommendations on #microtargeting that I made in a @washingtonpost op-ed earlier this month:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

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1. Base political-ad targeting on geography.

Google goes a little further than I’d recommended and would allow further targeting by age and gender.

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2. Quit “custom audiences” programs, which allow advertisers to upload emails & phone numbers and have ads served to just that audience.

This is key. Custom audiences defeat the disclosure of ad targeting, as even Google or Facebook don’t know how a given ad was targeted.

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@Google's approach to false ads from candidates is thoughtful. It protects trust in democracy *and* the give and take of politics.

@Twitter’s abandoning political ads; @facebook seems unwilling so far to police them at all. Could this be the Goldilocks solution: Just right?

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Let's not break out the confetti just yet. @Google's plan has no minimum audience size for an ad & allows targeting to the ZIP-code level. That's narrow. The public may not be able to adequately hear and respond to a communication targeted down to that geographic level.

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And while @Google has expanded its policy to state-level candidates, it does not address cities & counties.

Someone running to be mayor of NYC’s 8 million people is not covered, while a candidate for a Wyoming state legislative district with less than 10,000 residents is.

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Still, this is a welcome move by @Google that recognizes the problems that political-ad #microtargeting has wrought on democracy.

Now it's @Facebook's move. There's fresh reporting today on what they're considering; my thoughts on that soon.

wsj.com/articles/faceb…

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