Gearing up for the Australian Federal Election
As Australians head to the ballot box in coming months, we’re rolling out products and updates to help people get the information they need to cast their votes. Here are some ways we’ll be providing support.
Helping voters access the information they need
We know that people need useful and relevant information to help navigate the electoral process. You may have used Google’s Search tools for past Australian elections, where we highlighted information that helped people understand and participate. For the Australian Federal Election this year, we’ll be working with information from the Australian Electoral Commission to help people find the information they need to enrol and vote.
Better understanding political advertising and helping voters find information on candidates and parties
We're working with political parties to help them understand digital best practices to ensure Australians can find the information they are looking for when they are searching online. We are also sharing Google's ads policies with parties and candidates in the lead up to the election. Our goal is to make information as accessible and useful as possible to voters, practitioners, and researchers.
Protecting election information online
We’re continuing investments in keeping our own platforms secure and are working with parties, election officials, journalists and other organisations to offer our security expertise. For the 2019 Australian Federal Election, we’re offering in-person security training to the most vulnerable groups, who face increased risks of phishing attacks. We’ve been in Canberra in recent weeks providing training for government agencies and parties. Our training promotes Google’s Advanced Protection Program, our strongest level of account security, and Project Shield, a free service that uses Google technology to protect news sites and free expression from DDoS attacks on the web.
Navigating news
Australians rely on quality news content to navigate busy election periods and Google News Lab will support the Australian Associated Press (AAP) in its election verification service, which will send alerts to newsrooms around the nation. They’ll be offering workshops to help journalists access the latest tools and technology to tackle disinformation and support their coverage of the elections.
Like others, we’re thinking about how we continue to support democratic processes. We’ll provide more information on these areas and our efforts to inform, protect and support elections in coming months.
