By Ashley Young-
Twitter has launched new tools in Europe to facilitate ads paid for by political campaigns, ahead of key elections due in May. The news follows similar moves by fellow social media firm Facebook, as tech platforms prepare to face potential regulation and renewed disinformation efforts from hostile actors.
Twitter’s new ad campaigns policy, first trialled during the US mid-term elections, is to be launched in India and Australia ahead of elections in those countries. There are currently no plans to extend them to the Nigerian elections will begin next week, given the level of corruption known to accompany elections there, twitter ads may be used in subsequent election in four years time.
Adverts endorsing a political party or candidate will appear on a separate database, cataloguing ads alongside details such as billing information, ad spending and which demographics it targeted. The database will be available indefinitely, unlike Facebook’s library which holds ads for up to seven years.
Ads will also appear with a visual disclaimer to indicate who paid for them. Those wishing to buy ads on Twitter will have to undergo a verification process, which will start accepting applications on 11 March.The expansion at which time “only certified advertisers will be allowed to run political campaigning ads on our service,” according to Twitter. Bodies wishing to advertise on the platform must apply now to receive certification.
“We strongly believe that meaningful transparency is the best path forward for all advertising products we offer, particularly those that are utilised in a political context,” said Twitter in a blog post announcing the move.
“This is part of our overall commitment to protect the health of the public conversation on our service.”