Oct. 31 (UPI) — Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced Wednesday the social media platform will no longer allow political advertising.
In a series of tweets, Dorsey stated Twitter will cease all political advertising including ads supporting both candidates and individual issues.
Twitter legal, policy, and trust and safety lead, Vijaya Gadde, said the company’s current definition of issue ads includes those that refer to an election or a candidate or “advocate for or against legislative issues of national importance (such as: climate change, healthcare, immigration, national security, taxes).”
The company plans to share the final terms of the policy, including exceptions for ads promoting voter registration, on Nov. 15. The policy will be enforced beginning Nov. 22.
“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,” Dorsey wrote.
Twitter historically allowed political ads, but made changes after the 2016 election, requiring political advertisers to go through a certification process.
Earlier this year, Twitter also expanded rules that debuted in the United States last year ahead of the midterm elections making tools available in the European Union to provide transparency on who pays for political ads on its platform and how they’re promoted.
