Google this week removed a digital campaign ad from a super PAC aligned with Donald Trump because it failed to disclose the use of artificial intelligence, a violation of the platform’s rules, The Washington Sun has learned.
The ad, launched last week by No Going Back PAC, includes an AI-generated video of Johnny Garcia, the Democratic nominee in Texas’ 35th Congressional District, shaking his head in apparent frustration. The AI-generated clip was a few seconds long and embedded in a larger attack ad against Garcia.
Google’s political ad policy does not bar political advertisers from using AI to make it appear as if a person is doing or saying something they did not, but it does require advertisers to check a box to mark the content as AI generated.
Officials with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reported the ad last Thursday. By Tuesday, it was no longer running online. Google, which owns YouTube, notified the DCCC that the ad had been removed from its platform “for a policy violation,” according to a screenshot the committee provided to The Sun.
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“Carlos De La Cruz and his extremist Republican backers clearly have no issue lying to Texas voters,” DCCC spokesperson Madison Andrus said in a statement, referring to the Republican nominee in the race.
The removal of the ad highlights the changing rules of political advertisements in the AI era, where rules over how to use video produced by the technology can differ from platform to platform. It also underscores how Republicans have thus far been more willing to use AI-produced ads than Democrats, pushing creative boundaries but risking voter backlash among those who consider the practice deceitful.
Representatives from No Going Back did not respond to a request for comment.
The race between Garcia and De La Cruz is rated as “likely Republican” by The Cook Political Report. But Democrats have said in recent weeks that they think the race is competitive despite the district’s Republican tilt, a sign of a strong environment for the party’s candidates that’s helping them compete in even deep-red areas.
A Spanish-language version of the ad remains in the super PAC’s Google political ad library. No Going Back PAC spent between $1,000 and $1,500 promoting the ad, which was shown between 50,000 and 60,000 times, according to Google ad library metrics.
There are no federal rules or regulations dictating the disclosure or use of artificial intelligence in political ads. No Going Back has spent more than $700,000 in the last eight days to run the spot over TV, according to AdImpact.
Representatives from Google did not respond to a request for comment.
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