Check out Mediawell’s weekly roundup of content relating to Twitter’s newly announced political advertising ban. See below for article excerpts and their sources.
Twitter, Facebook Divergence on Political Ads Shows Tension in Regulating Speech | The Wall Street Journal
Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. are staking out starkly different positions about how to handle political ads, but it is unclear how either approach will prevent the spread of misinformation.
Some social-media websites have banned ads related to candidates, political parties and legislation. But blocking issues-based advertising, such as ads from advocacy groups or trade organizations, can be hard to enforce, tech executives and media buyers say.
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Twitter blocking all political ads globally starting in November | Ars Technica
Twitter might be the president’s favored platform and a valued way for candidates to spread their messages far and wide, but starting next month, elected officials and candidates alike are going to have to make sure all that traffic comes organically. That’s because they won’t be allowed to pay for political advertising.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has apparently taken a look at the controversy currently embroiling Facebook and decided he wants no part of it.
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The Technology 202: Here’s why Twitter may have trouble enforcing its own political ads ban | The Washington Post
Twitter’s decision to stop accepting political ads has sent ripples throughout the tech industry. But researchers who have studied Twitter’s handling of such ads in recent years are warning the company may struggle to enforce its new ban.
Researchers caution that Twitter’s spotty track record with a database meant to centralize political ads could be an omen for how the social network approaches prohibiting political ads. Like other tech giants, Twitter rolled out a political ad library to help track all the political ads on its platform following concerns about foreign interference on social media during the 2016 election. But researchers say the library didn’t contain key ads that should have been included.
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Opinion: Twitterâs âbanâ on political advertising is easier said than done | First Draft News
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey declared on Wednesday that his company will âstop all political advertising on Twitter globallyâ, a shrewdly-timed move which will turn up the heat on Mark Zuckerbergâs decision to not only allow political ads on Facebook, but exempt political advertising from fact checks altogether.
Published within 48 hours of the UK Parliamentâs decision to hold a general election, Dorseyâs Twitter thread offered a few hundred words of platitudes on the world platforms like his have helped create, but very little detail on what to do next. It may have been intended as an antidote to misinformation and multiplicity but Twitterâs existing efforts show it has a long way to go to solve the problem.
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Source: firstdraftnews.org/latest/opinion-twitters-ban-on-political-advertising-is-easier-said-than-done/
Twitterâs Political Ad Ban Is Disingenuous | Bloomberg
Twitter Inc.âs decision to ban political ads appears to be designed to make the company look better than Facebook Inc., which has controversially lax political advertising rules. But letâs face it: Twitter benefits from political pronouncements without having to charge those who spew them.
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