YouTube to Release Transparency Report on Election Ad Buyers in 2018

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - YouTube will make public its report containing information about purchases of political advertisements this year, the company's Global Head of Public Policy and Government Relations Juniper Downs said in a congressional hearing on terrorism and social media on Wednesday.

"[In 2018], we will release a transparency report on election advertisement purchases through Google," Downs told the US Senate Commerce Committee. "We will also release a creative library to the public where all of these advertisements are made."

YouTube will now require companies to state who they are and where they are from before buying advertisements on the video sharing platform, she said.

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Twitter's Director of Public Policy and Philanthropy Carlos Monje said during the hearing that his company has introduced industry-leading transparency practices for political advertising in 2017. Monje noted that Twitter provides information as to who is paying for election advertisements, but said it is harder to release information about issue-based advertisements.

Twitter, Google and Facebook have faced increased pressure from US lawmakers to be more transparent about advertisements, content and users on their platforms, after Congress and the US intelligence community accused Russia of using social networks to influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election.

Russia has repeatedly denied accusations of interfering in the US election. The Kremlin and Foreign Ministry officials have characterized the allegations as not only groundless and hysterical, but also as deliberate attempts to demonize Russia.