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Twitter decides to ban all political advertising on its platform

Twitter says the move isn't about free expression but paying for reach.

What you need to know

  • Twitter has announced that it will be banning all political ads on its platform starting next month.
  • Ads supporting voter registration, however, will still be allowed.
  • Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says the final policy will be made public by November 15.

Starting November 22, all political advertising on Twitter will be stopped globally. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wrote in a tweet that the company believes "political message reach should be earned, not bought."

A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money.

The decision, according to Twitter's chief financial offer Ned Segal, "was based on principle, not money." Last year, Twitter apparently earned less than $3 million from political ads.

The full policy is expected to be made public on November 15. As per the new policy, candidate and issue ads will no longer be allowed on Twitter. However, ads in support of voter registration, along with a few other exceptions, will still be allowed.

Facebook, on the other hand, has ruled out banning political ads on its platform. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told journalists (via CNBC) during a conference call on Wednesday that he believes it is not right for private companies to censor politicians or the news in a democracy. Earlier this month, Zuckerberg had defended his company's decision not to ban political ads containing false information before an audience of students at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

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