Washington (AFP)
Twitter said Friday it would exempt good causes, such as environmental protection or the promotion of social equality, from its ban on political ads on the network.
In late October, Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter had created the surprise by announcing that political ads would be banned from the network and that while America is preparing for an epic electoral battle for the White House and the control of the Congress.
Friday, the platform has clarified some rules that will come into effect on November 22 and tried to reassure the activists of great causes who feared not to be able to promote them with advertising on the network.
Thus calls for action on the environment, social equity, civic engagement or economic growth will be allowed.
"However, they can not refer to political advertisers or political content," says Twitter.
But even groups exempt from banishment will have to abide by restrictions on the geographical targeting of their messages, which can not target a specific locality.
Targeting for these ads may be by keyword or focus but not based on political color or affiliation or other more sophisticated techniques, the network says.
If the accolades were numerous at the time of the announcement by Jack Dorsey - especially in contrast to Facebook, which for its part refuses any censorship of political ads including if they are untrue - some critics have also emerged.
Some analysts point out that the ban only affects paid advertising and not the "tweets" of politicians, which can be shared by their supporters. A flaw that could push the proliferation of "bots" or users paid to spread more widely these messages.
© 2019 AFP