Twitter outlaws political ads
October 31, 2019
Twitter is set to ban all political advertising worldwide, saying that the reach of such messages “should be earned, not bought”.
“While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics,” Jack Dorsey, CEO of the social media platform, tweeted.
Reacting to the news, Brad Parscale, manager of President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, said the ban was “yet another attempt by the left to silence Trump and conservatives”.
Coversely, Bill Russo, spokesman for the campaign to elect Democratic front-runner Joe Biden, said: “When faced with a choice between ad dollars and the integrity of our democracy, it is encouraging that, for once, revenue did not win out.”
Twitter’s ban will be enforced from November 22nd, with full details of how the ruling will be enforced to be shared within the next couple of weeks.
Social media rival Facebook recently ruled out applying a similar ban. “In a democracy, I don’t think it’s right for private companies to censor politicians or the news,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said during a conference call.