Twitter updates Political Ad Policy following global ban

Twitter announces an updated Political Ad Policy following the global ban of most Political Ads on the platform.

Twitter Political Ad Policy applies to Twitter’s paid advertising products. The policy globally bans the promotion of political content on the platform.

On October 31, 2019, Jack Dorsey, CEO, Twitter first announced the ban of political advertising globally, basing it on the number of reasons and the belief that "political message reach should be earned, not bought".

A few of the reasons include the significant risks that this type of content bears given that unchecked misleading information, deepfakes and more can potentially influence civic decisions.

Following the ban, the platform's updated political content policy prohibits ads that contain references to political content, including appeals for votes, solicitations of financial support, and advocacy for or against types of political content.

The types of content that subject to this policy include content that references a candidate, political party, elected or appointed government official, election, referendum, ballot measure, legislation, regulation, directive, or judicial outcome.

Also Read: Opinion: Impact of Twitter’s stop on political advertising

News publishers who meet Twitter's exemption criteria may run ads that have a political context but may not include advocacy for or against those topics or advertisers. Advertisers need to review the platform's guidelines and promote content that complies with applicable laws and regulations.

With the upcoming US Elections and several global affairs, social media platforms are in intense scrutiny at the moment, and the platforms are accordingly providing updates.

Recently, Elizabeth Warren, Presidential Candidate (US), criticized Twitter's new political ad policy and mentioned the limitations to it. Adam Mosseri, Head Of Instagram agreed with her thoughts.

Although, Mark Zuckerberg's hearing with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, shows that Facebook is in no position to handle paid promotions of political content when they cannot attempt to rationalize not fact-checking political content and has almost minimal accountability.

Twitter taking a step back and banning most political ads may reduce optimization and micro-targeting users, giving the users a more voluntary decision. Advertisers and political parties or candidates may observe a potential drop in their reach, and instead of paying for it, they would have to earn it.