Aside from ongoing concerns about foreign
elections interference, the political advertising
issue rose to the forefront in recent months
as Twitter, along with Facebook and Google,
refused to remove a misleading video ad from
President Donald Trump’s campaign
that targeted Democratic presidential
candidate Joe Biden.
In response, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
another presidential hopeful, ran her own ad
on Facebook taking aim at Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg. The ad claimed — admittedly
falsely to make its point — that Zuckerberg
endorsed Trump for re-election.
Over the past several weeks, Facebook has been
pressed to change its policy. But it was Twitter
instead that jumped in with its bombshell ban.
Drew Margolin, a Cornell University
communications professor who studies
social networks, said Twitter’s broad ban is a
reflection that “vetting is not realistic and is
potentially unfair.”
He said a TV network might be in a position
to vet all political ads, but Twitter and
Facebook cannot easily do so. While their
reliance on automated systems makes online
ads easier and cheaper to run, Margolin said
it also makes them an “attractive target” for
spreading misinformation.
Political advertising makes up a small sliver of
Twitter’s overall revenue. The company does
not break out specific figures each quarter, but
said political ad spending for the 2018 midterm
election was less than $3 million. It reported
$824 million in third-quarter revenue.
Image: Andrew Harrer