Twitter to ban all political ads amid 2020 election uproar

Twitter will ban all advertisements about political candidates, elections and hot-button policy issues such as abortion and immigration, a significant shift that comes in response to growing concerns that politicians are seizing on the vast reach of social media to deceive voters ahead of the 2020 election. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said paying for political speech has the effect of “forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people.” “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,” Dorsey said.

The policy covers ads targeting office-seekers and elections including those around ballot measures, as well as those that address “issues of national importance." But the change doesn’t affect what users can tweet and share on their own, meaning it may not have much impact on widely followed accounts including President Trump, whose tweets already reach more than 66 million users each day.

The policy will take effect in late November.