Some Filipinos called on social media platforms to follow Google’s new policy of not accepting election advertisements for the upcoming 2022 national election.

Google announced that this policy covers the election period from February 8, 2022 to May 9, 2022, which is election day.

The ban includes advertisements that promote or oppose "any political party or any individual or political party running for public office."

Read: Google will ban political ads before the 2022 election 

This also applies to materials purchased through Google Ads, Display and Video 360, and Shopping platforms and placed on Google, YouTube, and partner assets.

The search engine giant said this is part of its efforts to provide people with useful and accurate information through its election-related initiatives.

"Google is focusing its efforts and resources on upcoming election-related initiatives, aiming to help people obtain useful and accurate information through product features and media literacy programs, encourage participation in the voting process, and help protect the integrity of the election. ," it said.

These initiatives include the Election Commission, MullenLowe TREYNA and Dashboard Philippines' #MagpaRehistroKa movement.

The company previously hosted Comelec's voter registration website on Google Cloud. It also promoted the event on its social media channels.

In 2021, Google also partnered with CANVAS to launch an online publication called #YOUTHink, published in English and Cebuano as part of its commitment to combat misinformation through media and information literacy.

The polling agency later reposted the announcement on its official social media page.

Press release: Google will suspend election advertising during the campaign @jabjimenez @Atty_Lai pic.twitter.com/atrVlxofin

Comelec detailed the definition of "political advertising" or "election propaganda" under the Fair Election Act in its statement.

Both terms refer to “any content broadcast, published, printed, displayed, or displayed in any media, which contains names, images, logos, brands, emblems, initials and other symbols or can interact with candidates and is specifically designed to Elect the above-mentioned candidates or candidates to public office directly or indirectly when attracting the attention of the public or its subdivisions."

Political advertisements also include "endorsements, statements, statements or information graphics that appear on any Internet website, social network, blog site, and Weibo site. As a whole, the main purpose is to endorse only candidates, or to post in exchange for consideration or Money can be estimated in other ways."

While some social media users welcome this move, others hope that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (renamed "Meta") will follow suit.

"In fact, mas may affect kung FB to...," said creative director Thysz Estrada.

"Noel. Hello, Facebook. Harvest season na naman ng fake news. Dapat dyan filter and tinatanggal. Mas dumadami ang mga tanga at nagtatangtangahan sa pinas kasi," the Twitter user said.

Others suggest that Google should also track down accounts that publish or upload harmful and false content on its platform.

"Google needs to eradicate these accounts and the content they advertise. It needs to stop abuses on such platforms in order to have problem-based discussions in our elections," one user said.

On the other hand, some people asked about political videos on YouTube that were not announced as advertisements.

"This is great, but what about YouTube videos that are not posted as advertisements? There are many more," said reporter Barnaby Lo.

"We all know that many of the social media advertisements in the Pakatan Harapan elections were not announced. What will it do with all the Marcos-related revisionism amplified by the YouTube algorithm packaged as organic content?" Reporter Regina Cabato said.