Google’s veto of political ads could create a monopoly for social networks, experts say

BRASÍLIA – Google will ban, from May this year, the promotion of political advertisements on all of its platforms. The measure meets the demands of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), which wants to restrict the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in electoral advertisements and combat the circulation of fake news. The decision divides the opinion of experts, who analyze that candidates will lose important tools to publicize their campaigns, having to search for the service on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).

Google’s new policy prohibits the circulation of any type of advertisement that talks about elections, political parties, federations and coalitions, elected positions, government proposals, bills, exercise of the right to vote and other political rights or matters related to electoral process. The measure applies to all platforms of the big techlike YouTube, for example.

Google followed TSE resolution No. 23,732, which determined that paid advertising providers on the internet must “maintain a repository of these ads to monitor, in real time, the content, values, those responsible for payment and the characteristics of the population groups that make up the audience.”

O Estadão found that the big tech discussed, over the last two months, ways to comply with TSE rules. In a note, Google states that the ban on political advertisements was determined to “no longer allow political advertisements to be broadcast in the country”. “We are globally committed to supporting election integrity and will continue to engage with authorities regarding this matter,” the company said.

According to Marcelo Crespo, Law coordinator at the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM), the change should be a “test” for the control of advertising in the 2026 elections. The expert sees the possible reduction of content as a positive point. untrue facts that may be driven by big tech. However, a negative factor he points out is the impossibility of using Google by campaigns that want to reach potential voters.

“It is a platform that has great power over society, and needs to have a sense of responsibility so that democracy is respected. Perhaps the impact will be positive from the perspective that we have less fake news. The negative impact may be that , if a candidate wants to broadcast his content there, he won’t be able to”, said Crespo.

Social networks should have a monopoly on political ads in elections, says expert

The decision of the big tech does not prevent political advertisements from being promoted via social media. For Marcelo Crespo, it will be necessary to analyze whether candidates will seek to boost their campaigns on platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. “Although Google is very relevant, technology is not just Google. We have social media platforms and messaging applications. These are other areas of activity for candidates, and it will be necessary to monitor them to analyze the impacts”, said the director of ESPM.

Maria Carolina Lopes, a specialist in Democracy and Digital Communication, believes that the ban by big tech should give Meta — a media conglomerate that brings together Facebook and Instagram — a monopoly on political ads in this year’s elections.

“Meta will no longer need to share this share with Google. Thinking as a company, it is a gain. On the other hand, if the moral and political cost becomes too high, it can go in the same direction. This way, we would reset the campaign game promoted on the internet”, said the expert.

According to Maria Carolina, Google makes it possible to create higher quality ads compared to Meta. The expert explains that the campaigns had the opportunity to boost searches for websites with proposals and keywords and to boost videos on YouTube. “Democracy loses without these possibilities and with market concentration”, she analyzed.

O Estadão contacted Meta, but received no response.