NEW DELHI
\nThe social media company formerly known as Twitter said Tuesday it would now allow political advertising in the US from candidates and political parties, reversing previous policies and raising concerns over misinformation and hate speech ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
\nBefore billionaire Elon Musk acquired the company, now called X, in October 2022, Twitter had banned all political ads globally since 2019. In January, the platform lifted the ban and began allowing \u201ccause-based ads\u201d in the US that raise awareness of issues such as voter registration, stating that it planned to expand the types of political ads it would allow on the platform.
\nThe move to allow all political ads in the US could help X grow its revenue at a time when many advertisers have fled or reduced spending on the platform for fear of appearing next to inappropriate content.
\nIt also comes as Musk has attempted to position X as a \u201ctown square\u201d for elections, hosting Ron DeSantis\u2019s campaign announcement in May.
\nIn a blog post on Tuesday, X said it would grow its teams to combat content manipulation and \u201cemerging threats\u201d.
\nThe company said it would create a global advertising transparency center, which would let users see what political ads were being promoted on X, and added it would continue to prohibit political ads that spread false information or seek to undermine public confidence in an election. This is in keeping with the company\u2019s goal of \u201cseeking to preserve free and open political discourse\u201d, the blog post said.
\nSince Musk\u2019s acquisition, X has faced questions about its readiness for the US presidential election after laying off thousands of employees, including those who had worked on the trust and safety team.
\nThe platform, like other social media companies, has long been criticized by researchers and lawmakers for not doing enough to prevent misleading or false content during major elections.
\nThose criticisms intensified surrounding the 6 January 2021 events, in which former president Donald Trump used Twitter extensively to rile up his supporters, who ultimately stormed the US capitol. Trump was removed from the platform after the incident, but Musk unilaterally lifted the ban in November 2022.
\nDespite the reactivation of his account, Trump remained silent on Twitter until last week, when he shared a picture of his mugshot after surrendering at a Georgia county jail on racketeering and conspiracy charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
\nHis official return has sparked concern from a number of misinformation experts, and civil rights advocates had previously warned that Trump\u2019s return, accompanied by a loosening of content moderation policies, would \u201copen the floodgates of disinformation\u201d and abuse.
\nTwitter, now called X, did not respond to request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI The social media company formerly known as Twitter said Tuesday it would now allow political advertising in the US from candidates and political parties, reversing previous policies and raising concerns over misinformation and hate speech ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Before billionaire Elon Musk acquired the company, now called X, in October […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-352770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n