Close X
Friday, November 22, 2024
ADVT 
Tech

Twitter Will Ban All Political Ads, Says Jack Dorsey

Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 Oct, 2019 07:11 PM
  • Twitter Will Ban All Political Ads, Says Jack Dorsey

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wont mind losing dollars from political ads on his platform. In a series of tweets, he said the micro-blogging platform will ban all political advertising worldwide and the reach of such messages "should be earned, not bought".


"We've made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought," Dorsey posted on Wednesday.


According to him, 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," he added.


Social media rival Facebook recently ruled out a ban on political ads.


News of the ban divided America's political camps for the 2020 election.


Brad Parscale, manager of President Donald Trump's re-election campaign, said the ban was "yet another attempt by the left to silence Trump and conservatives".


But for Bill Russo, spokesman for the campaign to elect Democratic front-runner Joe Biden, "When faced with a choice between ad dollars and the integrity of our democracy, it is encouraging that, for once, revenue did not win out."


The ban will be enforced from November 22, with full details released by November 15.


"While Internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions.


"Internet political ads present entirely new challenges to civic discourse: machine learning-based optimization of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes. All at increasing velocity, sophistication, and overwhelming scale," Dorsey elaborated.


According to him, we considered stopping only candidate ads, but issue ads present a way to circumvent.


"Additionally, it isn't fair for everyone but candidates to buy ads for issues they want to push. So we're stopping these too.


"We're well aware we‘re a small part of a much larger political advertising ecosystem. Some might argue our actions today could favour incumbents. But we have witnessed many social movements reach massive scale without any political advertising. I trust this will only grow," Dorsey noted.


In addition, he said, we need more forward-looking political ad regulation (very difficult to do).

MORE Tech ARTICLES

Apple Acquires Gliimpse, A Health Tech Startup Set Up By Indian Entrepreneurs

Apple Acquires Gliimpse, A Health Tech Startup Set Up By Indian Entrepreneurs
Taking its interest in the digital health sector to the next level, tech giant Apple has quietly acquired personal health data startup Gliimpse founded by two Indian-origin entrepreneurs.

Apple Acquires Gliimpse, A Health Tech Startup Set Up By Indian Entrepreneurs

Indian-Origin Team Brings Hope For Wireless Implanted Devices

Indian-Origin Team Brings Hope For Wireless Implanted Devices
Taking us one step closer to internet-connected wireless implanted devices, a team of Indian-origin engineers has introduced a new way of communication that allows devices to talk to smartphones and watches.

Indian-Origin Team Brings Hope For Wireless Implanted Devices

Too Many New Smartphone Models Released Each Year

Consumers think smartphone makers are releasing too many new models each year, a survey showed Tuesday.

Too Many New Smartphone Models Released Each Year

Facebook Has Tough Chance Against Ad Blockers: Indian-Origin Scientist

The social media giant last week said that it would make its ads indistinguishable from regular posts and hence impossible to block. 

Facebook Has Tough Chance Against Ad Blockers: Indian-Origin Scientist

Arianna Huffington Signs Off At The Huffington Post

Arianna Huffington Signs Off At The Huffington Post
Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post's editor-in-chief, announced Thursday that she's leaving to head a new health, wellbeing and productivity startup.

Arianna Huffington Signs Off At The Huffington Post

Battle Of Basel: Pokemon Strike Back In Swiss Viral Video

BERLIN — If you go down to the Rhine today, you're in for a big surprise.

Battle Of Basel: Pokemon Strike Back In Swiss Viral Video