Twitter just jabbed Facebook by banning all political ads: 'We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought'
- Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says the company will no longer allow political ads on its social network.
- Dorsey explained the decision in a Twitter thread on Wednesday.
- "This isn't about free expression. This is about paying for reach. And paying to increase the reach of political speech has significant ramifications that today's democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle. It's worth stepping back in order to address," Dorsey tweeted.
- Twitter's ban on political ads comes after Facebook announced that it would not fact-check paid political ads - a policy that has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers, the media, and the public.
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Twitter will no longer allow political advertisements, according to CEO Jack Dorsey.
Dorsey explained the decision in lengthy thread posted on Wednesday afternoon, and specifically pushed back against the reasoning Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg used to defend Facebook's policy allowing paid political ads with intentional lies and misinformation.
"This isn't about free expression. This is about paying for reach. And paying to increase the reach of political speech has significant ramifications that today's democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle. It's worth stepping back in order to address," Dorsey tweeted.
Twitter's policy banning political ads will go into effect on November 22, and the full policy will be posted one week earlier, on November 15. Dorsey said online political ads present new challenges to the democratic process that will require forward looking solutions, including new regulations and improved transparency.