Twitter Will Ban All Political Ads, C.E.O. Jack Dorsey Says

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/468219-trump-campaign-blasts-very-dumb-twitter-decision

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/30/zuc...political-ads-approach-after-twitter-ban.html

I am not sure how Twitter will really enforce removing political ads from its venue though.

Right as Facebook was set to report its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced his company would be banning political advertisements.

But Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn’t take the bait. On the company’s earnings call, he defended Facebook’s decision to allow ads that contain false information.

“Some people accuse us of allowing speech because they think all we care about is making money, and that’s wrong,” Zuckerberg said on the earnings call. “I can assure you that from a business perspective, the controversy this creates far outweighs the very small percentage of our business that these political ads make up.”

Facebook’s approach came under intense scrutiny this month after the company said it would allow Trump’s re-election campaign to run an ad with false claims about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. The ads policy was a major point of discussion at a congressional hearing last week where Zuckerberg testified.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Now the question becomes: What is a "political ad", exactly? It's pretty obvious the term includes those placed by candidates, their committees, and their affiliated parties. Probably obvious it would include political action committees, by definition.

But what about unions? Would the United Mine Workers be allowed to place a pro-Trump ad? Would they be able to place any ad at all?
What about lobbying entities, such as the NAB? Or plausibly more controversial special interests, like the NRA or the Susan B. Anthony List?

All in all, I don't think Twitter is a very large slice of the advertising pie, but it is an interesting conversation to have.

Another interesting conversation to have is whether legislators will write themselves laws that prohibit social media companies from electing not to accept these ads, in the same way that broadcasters cannot refuse bona fide candidates for office under current regulations.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Now the question becomes: What is a "political ad", exactly? It's pretty obvious the term includes those placed by candidates, their committees, and their affiliated parties. Probably obvious it would include political action committees, by definition.

But what about unions? Would the United Mine Workers be allowed to place a pro-Trump ad? Would they be able to place any ad at all?
What about lobbying entities, such as the NAB? Or plausibly more controversial special interests, like the NRA or the Susan B. Anthony List?

All in all, I don't think Twitter is a very large slice of the advertising pie, but it is an interesting conversation to have.

Another interesting conversation to have is whether legislators will write themselves laws that prohibit social media companies from electing not to accept these ads, in the same way that broadcasters cannot refuse bona fide candidates for office under current regulations.

Parts of me think its so Twitter management and the PR are only saying they won't allow political ads in 2020 as a ploy to not have to face congressional hearings in the same way Facebook leadership has to face congressional hearings on their business practices.

I don't know how Twitter management will really enforce that.