The business, which also announced that issue-based paid content will be welcomed immediately and that political commercials will start “in the coming weeks,” declared that political advertisements will no longer be prohibited on Twitter. The corporation announced on Tuesday that it will boost the amount of political advertising it accepts in the coming weeks in order to “enable public debate around crucial themes.” Additionally, it would harmonise its advertising practices with those of television and other media.

Official statement from Twitter

“We think that cause-based marketing might encourage the public to talk about pressing issues. We are easing our restriction on cause-based advertisements in the US as of right now. In the upcoming weeks, we also want to increase the amount of political advertising we allow,” the business tweeted. The decision reflects a departure from the initial 2019 announcement made by Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and CEO at the time, that all political ads by candidates, elected officials, and parties will be banned globally.

The ban infuriated Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, but Dorsey justified it by saying that “political message reach should be earned, not purchased.” Musk, though, has accused Twitter’s previous management of censorship and imposed big changes with little warning after spending $44 billion to purchase the business. The company has made a number of adjustments, such as removing a restriction that forbade the spread of Covid fake material, reactivating Trump and other right-wing celebrities’ accounts, and preventing users from following Musk’s private plane.

Following Elon Musk’s takeover in October, which was followed by a rise in hate speech and the restoration of several right-wing accounts that had previously been banned, the decision comes at a time when platform advertisers are running for the hills. Additionally, the change brings Twitter into line with a number of other important social media sites, like Facebook from Meta and YouTube from Google, both of which allow financed political material. One notable exception is ByteDance’s TikTok, which still forbids political advertising.

Twitter presently allows some so-called issue ads or cause-based adverts for some economic, environmental, and social topics, although with some restrictions. The business declared that it will relax its US policy for comparable cause-based marketing. Before the ban, Twitter’s earnings from political advertising for the 2018 US midterm elections was a pitiful $3 million. However, a company that is now trying to avoid a loss in ad income as sponsors quit the site due to concerns about its moderation methods may gain from the relaxation.