Twitter to ban political advertising (twitter.com)

Article summary

Twitter has announced that it will stop all political advertising on its platform globally. The decision is based on the belief that political message reach should be earned, not bought. Twitter's CEO, Jack Dorsey, explained that paying for reach can force highly optimized and targeted political messages on people, which can be problematic. The new policy will be enforced starting November 22, with some exceptions, such as ads in support of voter registration.

Main themes

• political advertising
• social media regulation
• free speech
• online misinformation
• election interference

What commenters say

• Twitter's decision to ban political ads is a step in the right direction to reduce the spread of misinformation and promote healthy democratic discourse.
• The ban on political ads may favor incumbents and limit the ability of new candidates to reach voters.
• Fact-checking ads is a difficult task, especially at scale, and it's unclear who should be responsible for enforcing such policies.
• Allowing political ads can be seen as a form of free speech, and banning them may be seen as censorship.
• The decision to ban political ads may not be effective in reducing the influence of money in politics, as other forms of advertising and influence can still be used.
• Twitter's move may put pressure on other social media platforms, such as Facebook, to re-examine their own policies on political advertising.
• The distinction between political and commercial advertising is not always clear, and some argue that all advertising can be seen as harmful and manipulative.