Twitter to relax the 2019 ban on political ads

Social media platform Twitter has announced changes to its advertisement policy. The company, in a tweet on January 4, informed that it will expand the permissible political ads on the platform in the coming weeks. “We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate a public conversation around important topics,” the company tweeted.

In addition, Twitter will now be aligning its advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets. While more details will be provided in the coming days, the company said that it will ensure that its approach to reviewing and content approval ‘protects people on Twitter’.

Notably, in 2019, Twitter enforced a ban on political ads. "We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought," tweeted Jack Dorsey, Twitter's then-chief executive, at the announcement of the ban.

As for cause-based ads, Twitter currently allows advertisements for some economic, social, and environmental topics, but with restrictions. As per the current cause-based ads policy, Twitter “restricts the promotion of and requires advertiser certification for ads that educate, raise awareness, and/or call for people to take action in connection with civic engagement, economic growth, environmental stewardship, or social equity causes.”

The changes to the ad policy come under the leadership of Elon Musk who had earlier claimed that the advertisements have been pulling back from spending on the platform. He said in November that Twitter had been experiencing a massive drop in revenue. He blamed activist groups for pressurising advertisers. “Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America,” Musk tweeted. This tweet came around the same time when a group of activists had written an open letter urging advertisers to suspend their ads off Twitter if Musk fails to commit to following safety standards and community guidelines.