Twitter to reverse its 2019 ban on political ads: Report
1 min read 04 Jan 2023, 06:02 AM ISTTwitter banned political ads in 2019 after it and other social media companies like Facebook faced widespread criticism for allowing election misinformation to spread across its services.
PremiumTwitter Inc would expand the types of political ads allowed on the social media platform, the company said. As billionaire Elon Musk-owned company seeks to grow revenue, the microblogging site would allow an apparent reversal of its 2019 ban on political ads, according to the news agency Reuters.
The company tweeted it would also ease its advertising policy for "cause-based ads" in the United States, and moving forward would align its advertising policy "with that of TV and other media outlets."
The microblogging outlet banned political ads in 2019 after it and other social media companies like Facebook faced widespread criticism for allowing election misinformation to spread across its services. It also restricted ads related to social causes.
"We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought," tweeted Jack Dorsey, Twitter's then-chief executive, in announcing the move.
Since Musk took over Twitter in late October, corporate advertisers have fled in response to the Tesla CEO laying off thousands of employees, reversing the permanent suspension of former US President Donald Trump and rushing a paid verification feature that resulted in scammers impersonating publicly-listed companies on Twitter.
Last month, Musk defended his deep cost-cutting measures, and said Twitter had been facing "negative cash flow" of $3 billion next year.
The company had also announced new controls to let companies prevent their ads from appearing above or below tweets containing certain keywords. The new controls were part of Twitter's effort to reassure and lure back advertisers that have pulled ads off the platform.
Twitter earns nearly 90% of its revenue from selling digital ads. Musk recently attributed a "massive drop in revenue" to civil rights organizations that have pressured brands to pause their Twitter ads.
The Twitter representative said bringing content moderators in-house would allow the platform to invest more in moderation for non-English languages.
(With Reuters inputs)
