Twitter will not let political messages spread for money. They are going to have to earn their diffusion naturally.
Thanks to Twitter and its retweets and quotes, political messages can gain traction and generate social movements. Alternatively, dissemination can be bought, and that's something the social network won't allow starting in November. They take this issue very seriously, ensuring Twitter reflects media and political reality, as when they closed hundreds of accounts run by PP bots to create the impression that their messages were successful.
The political message will be earned, not bought
As Jack Dorsey explained on his account: “ Political ads on the internet present entirely new challenges to civic discourse: machine learning-based message optimization and micro-targeting, unverified misinformation, and deep-seated hoaxes. These challenges will affect ALL online communications, not just political ads. It’s better to focus our efforts on the root causes, without the added burden and complexity of taking money for it. Trying to fix both means fixing neither properly and damages our credibility. For example, it’s not credible for us to say, ‘We’re working hard to stop people from using Twitter to spread misinformation, but if someone pays us to attack and force people to watch their political ad… well… they can say whatever they want!’”
We have previously considered not promoting only political candidates' ads, but we wouldn't be limiting those of people outside of politics. Furthermore, it's not fair that everyone except candidates buys ads on Twitter to promote their political ideology. So we won't promote those either. We are aware that we are a small part of a much larger political advertising ecosystem. Some might argue that our actions today could favor those who like to generate sensational headlines. But we have seen many social movements achieve massive scale without paying for any advertising. I am confident that this will only grow. In addition, we need more progressive regulation of political advertising (something that is very difficult to achieve). Advertising transparency requirements are progress, but not enough. The internet offers entirely new capabilities, and regulators must think beyond today to ensure everyone is on a level playing field. We will share the final policy before November 15, including some exceptions, such as ads supporting voter registration still being allowed. We will begin implementing our new policy on November 22 to give current advertisers a notice period before this change takes effect. One final note: This is not about free speech on Twitter. It is about paying for media reach. And paying to increase the reach of political discourse has significant ramifications, and today's democratic infrastructure may not be ready to handle them.
Source: Jack Dorsey Profile
