Twitter is relaxing ads policy to allow political as well as cause-based advertising in the United States. The changes come as Elon Musk is looking for more ways to cut costs and boost revenue as the social media platform, following its acquisition by the billionaire, is struggling to keep going.
The move is a reversal of Twitter's long-term policy not to allow paid political advertising, which was introduced by the then CEO Jack Dorsey. Also, cause-based ads have been limited on Twitter, and they were allowed based on certain criteria.
The changes would allow political candidates to promote themselves in upcoming electoral contests, and advocacy groups to support their causes on the platform, which reaches millions of people.
In a tweet, Twitter Safety said, "We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics. Today, we're relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US. We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks."
In a second tweet, the company further said that moving forward, it will align advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets.
In the country, TV advertising comes under the Federal Communications Commission, which does not fact check any political or other advertising.
"As with all policy changes, we will first ensure that our approach to reviewing and approving content protects people on Twitter." it tweeted.
Twitter intends to share more details as the work progresses.
Dorsey had banned political ads in 2019 stating then that political messaging should be earned, not bought.
The policy change comes as major advertisers are leaving Twitter after it was made private by Musk in a $44 billion acquisition in October. The platform runs almost entirely on advertising,
Ever since completing the acquisition, Twitter's new owner has been reshuffling its management, operations and actions, including dismissal of key executives, policy change,s and ongoing banning of unfavorable accounts.
Musk fired CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal, along with certain other key executives, and also cut majority of its employees and many of its contractors. Twitter, which had around 7,500 employees at the beginning of 2022, now reportedly has some 2,000 employees.
Being concerned with the ongoing issues, various companies pulled or paused their advertising campaigns on Twitter as they waited for more direction under the new ownership. General Motors Co., Volkswagen, and General Mills are among others who made a pause to their campaigns.
Meanwhile, Twitter was sued recently as it failed to pay rent for its office space in San Francisco, as well as for refusing to pay for two charter flights.
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