Twitter says it will loosen restrictions on political advertising as it seeks to generate more revenue following Elon Musk’s $44 billion (£36.4 billion) acquisition of the platform. In 2019, the social media platform shut down political ads after then-CEO Jack Dorsey said that getting people to get political messages should be “earned, not bought. Twitter has hinted at rescinding this policy, announcing plans to “expand the political ads it allows in the coming weeks.” Twitter Security said in a post on its account that the company aligns its advertising policies with those of television stations and other media outlets.
The post added that, as with the policy change, Twitter will ensure “our approach to reviewing and approving content protects people on his Twitter.” However, Musk recently restored controversial accounts such as those of Donald Trump and Andrew Tate.
Ads are Twitter’s primary source of revenue, accounting for 90% of its $5.1 billion revenue in 2021. But after Musk’s acquisition, advertisers stopped spending on him on Twitter, fearing divisive content would proliferate on the platform. As of mid-December, about 70% of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers were not spending on the platform, according to research firm Pathmatics.
