Twitter ban political advertising

A different strategy than Facebook. Twitter will no longer accept political ads from November 22, announced Wednesday, October 30, Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of the social network via his account. "We have made the decision to end all political advertising on Twitter around the world, and we believe that the reach of a political message should not be bought," tweeted Jack Dorsey.

We have made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought. Why? A few reasons ... 🧵

In a series of tweets, he explains that a political message wins in audience thanks to subscriptions to an account or retweets. "Paying for the audience removes that choice and imposes on people optimistic and targeted political messages," says Dorsey, adding, "We believe this decision should not be polluted with money."

The Facebook counterpoint

This choice contrasts sharply with that of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the world's leading social network, defends political messages on his network, including whether they contain lies or untruths, in the name of freedom of expression. Jack Dorsey responds directly to his alter-ego who exposed his views on political ads in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington.

"For us it's not credible to say, 'we work hard to prevent people from getting around the rules of our systems to spread false information, but if someone pays us to target and force people to see their advertising politics ... so they can say what they want! ", says Jack Dorsey.

For instance, it is not credible for us to say: "We are working hard to stop people from gaming to spread their misleading information, to have somebody in their country. can say whatever they want! 😉 "

Twitter, like Facebook or Google, derives most of its revenue from advertising, often targeted in an ultra-fine way thanks to the vast data collected each time users use the networks.

With AFP