Twitter Announces Its Plans ‘Relaxing’ Interdiction of Political Ads

Twitter announced it would soon be “relaxing” Elon Musk, the new CEO, has recently changed his mind and banned political ads.

The news came Tuesday evening in a pair of tweets from the company’s Twitter Safety account.

“We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics. Today, we’re relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US. We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks,” The account was shared.

“Moving forward, we will align our advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets,” The company also tweeted. “As with all policy changes, we will first ensure that our approach to reviewing and approving content protects people on Twitter. We’ll share more details as this work progresses.”

As we move forward, our advertising policy will be aligned with the TV and other media outlets. We will ensure that we have a consistent approach to reviewing and appraising content on Twitter. As this work continues, we’ll provide more information.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 3, 2023

Twitter banned political ads from its platform in 2019 because of misinformation concerns.

Following controversy, the announcement came as a result of Musk’s loss of many top advertisers through its social media platform. According to Politico, 90% of Twitter’s revenue came from advertising before Musk’s takeover. His leadership has seen the launch of a monthly Twitter Blue subscription for $8. The company has also cut costs through the reduction of large numbers and downsizing offices.

With the approaching 2024 presidential election, this latest change could open up new revenue streams.

In 2018, Twitter’s political advertising brought in Below $3 million Musk likely expects to make a profit on some of the political spending, which is usually focused on television and other media forms, during the next election cycle.

Twitter could tap into political advertising dollars on other tech platforms. Facebook and YouTube allow political ads while TikTok doesn’t.

These changes could impact not only political ads but also other aspects of advertising. “issue-based” Advertisements that address social causes or issues offer new opportunities for cause-oriented marketers as well as Twitter.

Musk had previously restored the Twitter account of Donald Trump, who was banned from it since January 2021. The action followed a Twitter poll Musk posted that ended with 51.8% of users agreeing Trump’s account should be reinstated.

Reinstate former President Trump

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2022

Trump has yet to return to Twitter. Instead, he is focusing on his Truth Social platform.

“I don’t see any reason for it,” Former president said November

Trump stated one month prior that he intended to continue on his own platform.

“I am staying on Truth. I like it better, I like the way it works, I like Elon, but I’m staying on Truth,” Trump said. “If I choose to run, I will only use Truth.”

Trump’s Twitter account had 88 million followers before he was banned in 2021.