Online audiences will be spared at least some of the glut of political ads – and possible misinformation – beginning as early as the end of the month.

At least two tech giants, Meta and Google, will be re-implementing restrictions on political ads around Election Day, out of concern for political misinformation. This election season, that concern is heightened by the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate text and images.

Nick Clegg, Meta’s president for global affairs, announced on the company website last November that Menlo Park-based Meta will block new political, electoral and social issue ads across Meta technologies, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads in the week before Nov. 5. Post-election, Meta policies forbid candidates or campaigns from prematurely claiming victory before results.

Google also will repeat a policy implemented on Google and  YouTube in 2020 blocking election ads across all of its platforms after the last polls close on Nov. 5, according to its website.

The Mountain View-based company also communicated this policy directly to its advertisers in a memo sent to its advertising partners Thursday, obtained and reported by Axios. The policy, first introduced during the 2020 election, is meant to prevent misinformation about voting, including candidates prematurely claiming victory before a race is called.

Google said it will pause all ads related to U.S. elections from being served to people in the U.S.

Axios reported that in its memo to advertisers, Google said it is implementing the policy again in 2024 “out of an abundance of caution and to limit the potential for confusion, given the likelihood that votes will continue to be counted after Election Day,”

Any ads running through Google's ad-serving platforms, which include Google Ads, DV360, YouTube, and Google's Ad Exchange and Shopping ads, will be subject to the pause policy.

Google told its advertisers they will be notified when the policy is lifted in the weeks after the election.