Elon Musk's Twitter Announces Major Change to Political Advertising Policy
Twitter says it will ease up on its 3-year-old ban on political advertising, the latest change by Elon Musk as he tries to pump up revenue after purchasing the social media platform last year.
“We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics,” the company tweeted late Tuesday from its Twitter Safety account.
“Today, we’re relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US,” it said. “We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks.
“Moving forward, we will align our advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets. As with all policy changes, we will first ensure that our approach to reviewing and approving content protects people on Twitter.”
Moving forward, we will align our advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets. As with all policy changes, we will first ensure that our approach to reviewing and approving content protects people on Twitter. We’ll share more details as this work progresses.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 3, 2023
Twitter banned all political advertising in 2019, reacting to claims about “misinformation” spreading on social media.
At the time, then-CEO Jack Dorsey said that while internet ads are powerful and effective for commercial advertisers, “that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions.”
The latest move appears to represent a break from that policy, which had banned ads by candidates, political parties or elected or appointed government officials.
Political advertising made up a sliver of Twitter’s overall revenue, accounting for less than $3 million of total spending for the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.
Facebook in March 2021 lifted its ban on political and social issue ads that had been put in place after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Musk bills himself as a free-speech warrior and bought Twitter because he believed it wasn’t living up to its potential as a platform for open expression.
A platform cannot be considered inclusive or fair if it is biased against half the country
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 14, 2022
The billionaire Tesla CEO has sought to cut costs and boost revenue for the social media company to fortify his $44 billion purchase.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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