Google Ads adds California, South Korea and Vietnam to on-ad AI label regions

Google Ads now lists six locations where ads using assets marked as AI created or edited carry a visible AI label on the ad itself: the European Union, India, New York, California, South Korea and Vietnam. California, South Korea and Vietnam are the new additions, joining the EU, India and New York, which were the three regions Google named when the AI label setting rolled out in July 2026. Thailand is not on the list.

The source for the list is Google's own help page, Use AI content label settings and disclosures, read by Relevant Audience on 6 November 2026. Search Engine Roundtable reported the expansion on 5 November 2026 and identified which three entries were added. Google's Merchant Center product data specification now carries the same six-location list.

What the Google Ads help page says now

The help page separates two kinds of disclosure. The first applies everywhere. The second applies only to campaigns aimed at specific places.

Under the heading Regions, Google writes: "In some geographies, AI labels will also show on the ad itself. For campaigns that target the following locations, ads with assets that you designate as AI created or edited will also include visible overlays on the ads." The six locations follow in this order: European Union, India, New York, California, South Korea, Vietnam.

The trigger in that sentence is the campaign's targeting. The page says "campaigns that target the following locations," so the overlay follows where an ad is aimed, not where the advertiser is based. A Bangkok company running a campaign aimed at Vietnam falls inside the Vietnam rule as the page is written.

The global disclosure in My Ad Center

Outside those six locations, labelled assets still get a disclosure, just not one printed on the ad. According to the help page, ads containing assets the advertiser designates as AI generated or edited include a disclosure in the "How this ad was made" section of the My Ad Center panel. Google says this is accessible globally. Users reach it through the three-dot menu on ads across Search, YouTube and Discover.

Google's separate AI Transparency in ads page in the My Ad Center help centre adds that "How this ad was made" is available only for ads that use AI edited or created assets.

Which locations show the on-ad AI label

The table below compares the list Google named in July with the list on the help page as read on 6 November 2026, with Thailand added for reference.

What is new since RA's July coverage

Relevant Audience covered this thread twice in July. On 16 July 2026, RA reported that Google Ads was rolling out disclosure labels for AI-generated ad creative, with Google naming the EU, India and New York State using the word "including," without a full list and without mentioning Thailand. On 29 July 2026, RA reported the AI label setting arriving in asset studio across Google Ads, Display & Video 360, Campaign Manager 360, Merchant Center and Google Ads Editor, again with the EU, India and New York named as the markets behind it.

The change now is the list itself. California, South Korea and Vietnam have been added to the help page as locations where the label appears on the ad. Vietnam is the only Southeast Asian location on the list. The Regions wording on the Google Ads page is also firmer than the July language: it presents the six as the locations where overlays apply, with no "including" before them.

RA also reported on 4 August 2026 that the Campaign Manager 360 and Display & Video 360 APIs gained an AI content label field that cannot be unset once written. The help page read on 6 November makes a related point for labels Google applies itself, covered below.

When Google applies the AI label for you

The help page lists three cases where an asset may be labelled without the advertiser choosing to do it:

• In regions where Google itself is legally required to label.
• When Google gets signals to do so from other platforms.
• When an advertiser uses Google's fully automated features to create and serve creatives, in which case assets may be labelled as AI created or edited "on your behalf to assist with your compliance."

The page then says: "In any of these cases, labels cannot be overwritten." An advertiser cannot remove a label Google has applied under these rules.

The page does not name the other platforms whose signals can trigger a label, and it does not describe what those signals are.

How to manage AI labels in Google Ads

The help page describes the workflow in four places. Each is summarised here as Google describes it.

Check the AI label status of existing assets

Label status appears in the Asset library and in asset reporting under an "AI label" status column. If the column is not visible, it has to be added. The asset filter can filter by "AI label" and then by sub-filters.

During campaign creation

Google shows an in-product prompt to "Review assets" if ads in the campaign may require an AI label. The steps are:

1. Select the assets you want to manage.
2. Select Manage AI label.
3. Select "Label this asset as created or edited with AI" or "Don't label this asset".
4. Select Done.

For assets in existing campaigns

1. Go to Asset studio in the Tools menu.
2. Select Asset library.
3. Select an asset to open its details page.
4. Choose "Label this asset as created or edited with AI" or "Don't label this asset".
5. Select Save.

When generating new AI assets

The same "Review assets" prompt appears, with a table of assets whose "AI label" column is undesignated. Select the checkbox next to an asset and choose to label it or not in the pop-up. If an asset already has an AI label created outside Google Ads, the page offers a link to where that asset was created. Video uploaded to YouTube from within Google Ads triggers a question about whether AI was used, to comply with YouTube's AI disclosure policies for organic videos.

Adding your own AI label to creative

Advertisers can also put their own AI label on assets in their design tools. Google says these labels won't violate its policies prohibiting text overlays and watermarks. The help page gives three practical tips:

• Do not place the label in the very corners or edges of an image, because rendering formats vary and Google cannot fully guarantee the label won't be trimmed.
• Opt out of image enhancements, which can crop the label.
• Use the relevant controls: Asset Enhancements in Display campaigns, Asset Enhancements in Performance Max campaigns and Adaptive Layouts in Demand Gen campaigns.

Analysis. The second tip has a cost. Opting out of image enhancements protects a self-applied label but also switches off a feature some advertisers use on purpose. Using the platform setting instead of a baked-in label avoids the cropping risk in the six listed locations, where Google applies the overlay; elsewhere the setting adds only the My Ad Center disclosure.

SynthID and C2PA on Google-generated assets

Separately from visible labels, the help page says Google applies machine-readable metadata to assets generated by Google AI tools. That includes non-visible SynthID digital watermarks and C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) markup in all images and videos generated within Google Ads tools.

Merchant Center's product data specification, read on 6 November 2026, also requires that images created with generative AI carry metadata showing they were AI-generated, such as the IPTC DigitalSourceTypeTrainedAlgorithmicMedia tag, and tells merchants not to strip that metadata from images made with tools such as Product Studio.

The same six locations in Merchant Center

Google's Merchant Center product data specification now states: "AI regulations in the European Union, India, New York, California, South Korea, and Vietnam require that ads with certain AI-generated or edited assets include disclosures and/or labels that inform consumers that the ads were made with AI." It points merchants to labels added directly to creatives or to the AI label setting in Google Ads, Display & Video 360, Campaign Manager 360, Merchant Center and Ads Editor. Retailers running ecommerce campaigns through Shopping or Performance Max read both pages.

Both pages carry the same caution. Google writes that use of the AI label setting "doesn't guarantee your compliance with specific regulations" and advises seeking legal guidance.

What the sources did not say

• Neither Google page gives a date on which the overlays began showing in California, South Korea or Vietnam.
• Neither page names the specific law in each of the six locations, or explains why these three were added now.
• The My Ad Center AI Transparency page, read on 6 November 2026, still gives only the EU, India and New York as examples of locations with disclosure requirements. Google's help pages are not yet consistent with each other.
• Thailand is not mentioned on any of the pages read for this post. Google gives no indication of whether or when other countries will be added.
• The pages do not set out penalties for failing to label.

What this means for Thai marketers

Thailand is not on Google's list, so a campaign that targets only Thailand does not get the on-ad overlay under the rules on the help page. Labelled assets in a Thailand-only campaign still get the "How this ad was made" disclosure in My Ad Center, which Google says is global.

The change matters for Thai brands whose campaigns reach beyond Thailand. A campaign targeting Vietnam, South Korea, California, New York, India or any EU country now falls under the overlay rule for assets designated as AI created or edited. A regional Southeast Asia campaign that includes Vietnam targets a listed location; the page does not say whether the overlay then shows only in Vietnam or wherever the campaign serves. Tourism, education, property and export brands that advertise into Korea or Vietnam from Thailand are the obvious cases to check.

The practical step is to open the Asset library, add the "AI label" column and review which assets are designated, undesignated or labelled by Google, then decide which assets in which campaigns need a label. Assets made with Google's own fully automated features may already be labelled, and those labels cannot be removed.

FAQ

Which countries show AI labels on Google ads?

Google's help page lists six locations where ads with assets designated as AI created or edited show a visible overlay: the European Union, India, New York, California, South Korea and Vietnam. Everywhere else, the disclosure appears in the "How this ad was made" section of My Ad Center.

Is Thailand on the Google Ads AI label list?

No, Thailand is not on the list as read on 6 November 2026. Campaigns targeting only Thailand do not get the on-ad overlay, though labelled assets still show the My Ad Center disclosure, and Google has given no indication about future additions.

Does the rule depend on where my business is or where my ads are shown?

It depends on where the campaign is targeted, according to the help page, which applies the overlay to "campaigns that target the following locations." A Thai business targeting Vietnam or South Korea is covered for those campaigns.

Can I remove an AI label that Google applied?

No, labels that Google applies itself cannot be overwritten. That covers cases where Google is legally required to label, where it gets signals from other platforms, and where assets come from Google's fully automated creative features.

Does using the AI label setting make my ads compliant?

Not by itself, according to Google, which says use of the setting "doesn't guarantee your compliance with specific regulations" and advises advertisers to seek legal guidance.

Review AI-made assets before they run in the new markets

With three locations added and Vietnam now on the list, any account running AI-generated or AI-edited creative into those markets needs its asset labels reviewed campaign by campaign. Relevant Audience's Google Ads management team can audit asset labels, targeting and creative settings for Thai brands advertising across the region.