Twitter puts an end to political advertising

SAN FRANCISCO, California-Twitter announced an end on Wednesday to political campaign and issue advertisements on its service, calling it an important step in reducing the flow of election-related misinformation.

But some of its users might face an unintended consequence or two.

Among those potentially affected could be public-interest nonprofits eager to reach an audience larger than their official followers, challengers to incumbent officeholders, and-obviously-political consultants who make a living placing ad buys for their candidates.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in a series of tweets that paid political messages in the targeted environment that social media enables can be fraught.

"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," he wrote.

Security and privacy researchers and some Democratic politicians hailed Twitter's decision as an important way to prevent campaigns from feeding streams of misinformation to targeted voters. The move drew a sharp contrast between Twitter and its much larger rival Facebook, which has come under fire in recent months for its policy of not fact-checking political ads.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shot back quickly, using an earnings conference call on Wednesday to offer an impassioned defense of what he called his company's deep belief "that political speech is important".

"This is complex stuff. Anyone who says the answer is simple hasn't thought about the nuances and downstream challenges," Zuckerberg said.

Google did not have an immediate comment on Twitter's policy change.

US President Donald Trump's campaign manager called Twitter's change a "very dumb decision" in a statement on Wednesday.

"This is yet another attempt to silence conservatives, since Twitter knows President Trump has the most sophisticated online program ever," campaign manager Brad Parscale said.

Political advertising makes up a small sliver of Twitter's overall revenue. The company does not break out specific figures each quarter, but said political ad spending for the 2018 midterm election was less than $3 million. It reported $824 million in third-quarter revenue.

The issue rose to the forefront earlier this fall when Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, refused to remove a misleading video ad from Trump's campaign that targeted Joe Biden.

Zuckerberg said he has also considered banning political ads, but remains wary of the move's impact. "It's hard to define where to draw the line," he said. "Would we really block ads for important political issues like climate change or women's empowerment?"

Zuckerberg's comments came a day after Facebook was under fresh criticism for its hands-off approach to political speech.

A letter from Facebook employees urged the company to crack down on "civic misinformation", saying the spread of debunked claims is a "threat" to what the company stands for.

AP-AFP