Twitter to ban political ads on its platform

Twitter will stop accepting political advertising globally on its platform, the company said, responding to growing concerns over misinformation from politicians on social media.

Chief executive Jack Dorsey tweeted that while internet advertising “is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions.”

But Social media behemoth Facebook looks unlikely to follow Twitter’s lead, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg holding to his line that he would let political figures speak freely, and count on voters to judge truthfulness.

 Dorsey said Twitter’s new policy, details of which will be unveiled next month and enforced from November 22, would ban ads on political issues as well as from candidates.

 Zuckerberg has said political advertising is not a major source of revenue but he believes it is important to allow everyone a “voice,” and banning political ads would favor incumbents.

Dorsey said he disagreed with Zuckerberg’s assessment.

“We have witnessed many social movements reach massive scale without any political advertising. I trust this will only grow,” he added.