X Unleashes Political Ads
After initially relaxing its rules in January, X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has now completely lifted its longstanding ban on political advertising. In an update, X announced that it will once again allow political advertisers from all backgrounds.
“Based on our commitment to freedom of speech, we also allow political advertising,” the company wrote. It added that it “applies specific policies to paid promoted political messages,” including rules prohibiting “promotion of false or misleading content” as well as content “intended to undermine public confidence in elections.” X also said it plans to create a “global advertising transparency center” to allow users to track political ads on the platform.
Twitter first banned political ads in 2019, with then-CEO Jack Dorsey saying that “the political message is reaching not to be bought, but to be earned.” That began to change earlier this year, when the company eased restrictions on “cause-based” ads, citing the importance of “public conversation about important issues.”
Now, it’s unclear if there is any kind of political ad that would be banned on X as long as it follows the company’s rules. It should be noted that X has yet to update its support pages outlining its political advertising rules, although it said in a blog post that it would update its social integrity policy to ensure we strike the right balance between addressing the most harmful types of content… by censoring political discussion.” X did not respond to a request for comment.
Policy changes could have significant effects on the upcoming 2024 election. X also said it was regrouping its employees in its security and election policy oversight groups to focus on combating manipulation, exposing fake accounts and closely monitoring for new threats.
Opening up to political ads could also be a big boon for X’s ad business, which has fallen 50 percent since Elon Musk took over last year. While traditional advertisers have increasingly been kicked off the platform, political campaigns may find it harder to stay away before a major election.
