Technology

Twitter to ban political advertising, adding pressure on Facebook

‘We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought,’ says Twitter ceo Jack Dorsey

Twitter will ban political advertising from its platform, chief executive officer Jack Dorsey, above, said on Wednesday. Photograph: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Wed Oct 30 2019 - 21:12

Twitter Inc will ban political advertising from its platform, chief executive officer Jack Dorsey announced on Wednesday.

The new policy, to be enforced globally, will go into effect on November 22nd. The company plans to publish a new political ads policy outlining the change in a few weeks.

“We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought,” Mr Dorsey wrote on Twitter.

Twitter's decision comes as Facebook Inc has very publicly defended its policy of not fact-checking posts from politicians, including ads. The approach means politicians can publish lies or misinformation on the social network, and pay Facebook to spread those messages to voters.

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US president Donald Trump has already taken advantage of the policy by running a campaign recently claiming Democratic front-runner Joe Biden bribed Ukrainian officials. A similar ad campaign ran on Twitter.

Numerous politicians, including Mr Biden and fellow Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren, have called on Facebook to change its policy. Chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg has said that he doesn't believe technology companies should decide what is true, and what is false. - Bloomberg

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