Twitter CEO Announces Ban on Paid Political Ads and On Tweets Promoting Political Issues

Last week, Twitter CEO and co-founder, Jack Dorsey, announced the company’s decision to bar politicians from using Twitter accounts in publishing political ads; including political issue contents that aim to circumvent Twitter’s political ad ban. The ban becomes effective on November 15, 2019; but will extend to November 22, 2019 for advertisers, to give them extra time to adapt to Twitter’s new policy.

 

The new policy of course earned praises and approval from members of the Democratic caucus. although Forbes noted that Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris have the biggest spending for Twitter political ads. Nonetheless, this refutes the Conservative’s claims that CEO Dorsey is biased, and that his approval of the political campaign ban is aimed at silencing Conservatives; asserting that the ban will allow the liberal media to run unchecked in publishing contents that attack Republicans.

Obviously, the main Republican persona affected by Twitter’s new policy is no less than president Donald Trump. After all, Trump has taken quite a liking to Twitter as demonstrated by the massive daily political issues he tweets and retweets regardless of the veracity or falsity of contents.

Twitter CEO Explains that Ban Applies to Paying for Political Reach and Not on Freedom of Expression

The Twitter CEO said that the ban is not about suppressing freedom of expression. It is about not paying for political ads in order to broaden the reach of political campaign speeches. In being well aware that the ban can be circumvented by expressions of political issues, the ban also includes paid ads for pushing such issues. According to Jack Dorsey, they believe that garnering massive reach without having to pay for political ads, is the right way to move forward.

To give additional clarity, Twitter’s legal lead, Vijaya Gadde, gave a working definition of political ads as those advocating for or against legislative matters of national importance, e.g. healthcare, immigration, climate change, taxes and national security.