Twitter reverses its ban on political ads

Twitter launched a feature called “Twitter Streaming” in 2019. fairly strict ban on political and cause-based adsThis effectively stopped politicians and organizations like PACs displaying ads that supported candidates, endorsed ballot measures or asked for donations. The company has now announced via the Twitter Safety account, that it is changing that policy and will allow for more advertising.

Most political ads had been banned in the past. Cause-based ads covering topics like abortion or climate change were also prohibited. The latter were barred from being marketed to custom audiences and age groups, for instance — and while raising awareness to topics was permitted, advocating support for specific legislation was not.

The announcement did not go into details about the ad rules. Instead, it stated that Twitter would be brought closer to the political advertising standards of TV and other media outlets. While it is unclear what this means, it is important to remember that broadcast and TV markets that use the public airwaves need to comply with these rules. follow certain FCC rules regarding political advertising Twitter may not be available for these purposes.

In any case, Twitter could benefit from the change. make up for the advertisers who left in the weeks following Elon Musk’s purchase of the platformGM, Audi and General Mills saw their advertising paused after the announcement. Twitter says it made the policy change to facilitate public conversation about important topics.