Twitter To Expand Political Advertising In Reversal of 2019 Ban

Twitter on Wednesday said it would expand the types of political ads allowed on the platform in an apparent reversal of its 2019 global ban on political ads.

Twitter on Wednesday said it would expand the types of political ads allowed on the social media platform. The latest development comes in an apparent reversal of its 2019 global ban on political ads as the Elon Musk-owned company seeks to grow revenue, reported news agency Reuters.

In a tweet, the San Francisco-based social media firm revealed its plan to expand political advertising in the coming weeks.

“We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate a public conversation around important topics. Today, we're relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US. We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks,” the company said in a tweet.

The company also said it will align our advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets.

“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,” the tweet read.

The decision is a reversal of the 2019 ban which was implemented at the time of Jack Dorsey following concern among some academics and left-leaning politicians that social media companies were allowing election misinformation to proliferate.

At the time, Dorsey wrote: “We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought.”

The change is in line with Musk’s idea to loosen moderation on the platform, citing his free speech ideals, which has included reversing the permanent ban of former US president Donald Trump. 

Since Musk acquired the platform in late October, corporate advertisers have moved away over concerns of the policy initiatives starting from layoffs to reversing the permanent suspension of former US President Donald Trump among others.

Musk defended the cost-cutting measures, and said Twitter had been facing "negative cash flow" of $3 billion next year.

The company also announced rolling out new controls to allow companies prevent their ads from appearing above or below tweets containing certain keywords in an effort to reassure and regain advertisers.

The company earns 90 per cent of its revenue through digital ads. Musk recently held civil rights organizations responsible for a "massive drop in revenue" citing they have pressured brands to pause Twitter ads.