Twitter is to ban all political advertising worldwide, saying that the reach of such messages "should be earned, not bought".
Company CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted while internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics.
We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought. Why? A few reasons…🧵
— jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) October 30, 2019
Social media rival Facebook recently ruled out a ban on political ads.
This is the right thing to do for democracy in America and all over the world.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 30, 2019
What say you, @Facebook? https://t.co/dRgipKHzUG
Social media firms are under particular scrutiny ahead of US elections in 2020.
My main concern with micro-targeted ads on SM during elections is that it means you can tell thousands of different stories to different groups without the other groups hearing what you're saying.
— Carl Miller (@carljackmiller) October 30, 2019
The potential for duplicity (or uber-multiplicity) is just enormous
The ban will be enforced from 22 November, with full details released by 15 November.
[Source: BBC]
