Regulation July 13, 2026

Platforms attach their own labels: Google's 'How this ad was made' and Meta's automatic AI notice

Google added a 'How this ad was made' section to its My Ad Center panel showing whether an ad was created or edited with AI; the feature is available to all users globally across Search, YouTube and Discover. The same week, Meta began adding an automatic notice to its 'About this ad' menu whenever its system detects AI involvement. Weeks ahead of the AI Act's August 2 threshold, the platforms built their own transparency infrastructure.

Stacked navy ad cards; in an opened panel, a small emerald info badge pinned beside the rows

Google added a “How this ad was made” section to its My Ad Center panel: from the three-dot menu or info icon on any ad across Search, YouTube and Discover, users can see whether the ad was created or edited with AI. The feature is available globally to all users. The same week, Meta updated its side too: the notice in the “About this ad” menu now appears automatically when Meta’s creative tools were used or its system detects AI involvement.

The difference between the two approaches shows the subtlety of the problem: Google stamps the disclosure automatically for its own generative tools but leaves the declaration to the advertiser for ads made with third-party tools; Meta hands detection to its own system. Arriving weeks before the AI Act’s August 2 transparency threshold, these moves show labelling becoming a platform standard without waiting for regulation — and the platforms have started writing their own answer to the question of who stamps what, at which step.