Google to verify identity of US political ad buyers

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google says it will do a better job of verifying the identity of political ad buyers in the U.S. by requiring a copy of a government-issued ID and other information.

Google will also require the disclosure of who is paying for the ad. Google executive Kent Walker is repeating a pledge he made in November to create a library of such ads that will be searchable by anyone by this summer.

Google's blog post comes short of declaring support for the Honest Ads Act, a bill that would impose disclosure requirements on online ads, similar to what's required for television and other media. Facebook and Twitter support that bill.