Twitter CEO Dorsey bans political ads in swipe at Facebook, drawing criticism from Trump
- Twitter plans to publish a new political ads policy outlining the change in a few weeks, which will be enforced globally and go into effect November 22
- Zuckerberg has come under fire for his position because it means politicians can publish misinformation on the social network and pay Facebook to spread those messages
Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey tweeted Wednesday that the site will ban all political ads, delivering a jab to Facebook, which has come under fire for the way it has handled advertising by candidates.
“We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought,” Dorsey wrote on Twitter.
The decision, which does not appear to represent a major financial sacrifice for Twitter, quickly drew reactions from politicians, including criticism from President Donald Trump’s campaign and praise from Joe Biden, a leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate who has been targeted in ads by the Trump campaign.
Twitter’s action is likely to have little impact on the way campaigns are run, said Jessica Alter, the co-founder and chair for Tech for Campaigns, an organisation that works with Democrats. Alter said candidates do not view Twitter as a particularly important platform for advertising. “Twitter is for if you have extra money or if you want to get to pundits,” she said.
Twitter plans to publish a new political ads policy outlining the change in a few weeks, which will be enforced globally and go into effect November 22.
Twitter shares fell as much as 4 per cent to US$28.63 in post-market trading in New York before paring the loss to about 1.9 per cent. The stock had gained 3.9 per cent this year through Wednesday.