Twitter is reversing its ban on political ads

In 2019, Twitter instituted a fairly strict ban on political and cause-based ads, effectively blocking politicians and organizations like PACs from running ads that prop up candidates, promote ballot measures or ask for donations. Now, the company is reversing that policy, announcing through the Twitter Safety account that it will relax those advertising rules.

Previously, almost all political ads were banned, and cause-based ads that covered subjects like climate change or abortion were subject to various restrictions. The latter were barred from being marketed to custom audiences and age groups, for instance — and while raising awareness to topics was permitted, advocating support for specific legislation was not.

The announcement didn’t go into detail about the ad rules, stating instead that the plan is bring Twitter more in line with the political advertising standards of “TV and other media outlets.” Although it’s not completely clear what that means, its worth noting that TV and broadcast markets that use the public airwaves are required to follow certain FCC rules regarding political advertising that Twitter may not be subject to.

Either way, the change could help Twitter make up for the advertisers who left in the weeks following Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform, which saw brands like GM, Audi, General Mills and others pause advertising. As for Twitter, the social media company says that its making the policy change because it believes that “cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics.”

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried agrees to extradition to the US

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Twitter conveniently reveals a location sharing policy amid Elonjet controversy

In November, as an example of his commitment to free speech, Elon Musk promised that he wouldn’t ban an account that tracked his private jet despite claiming it was a “direct personal safety risk.” Today, that account was suspended. Then restored. Then suspended again. It’s not yet clear what the future holds for @ElonJet, but its fate is probably tied to a new set of rules from Twitter Safety about how it handles accounts sharing location information for other people.

According to a series of tweets outlining the new policy, sharing the live location of another person is now prohibited unless it is related to a “public engagement or event,” like a concert or a political event. “When someone shares an individual’s live location on Twitter, there is an increased risk of physical harm,” the announcement reads. “Moving forward, we’ll remove Tweets that share this information, and accounts dedicated to sharing someone else’s live location will be suspended.” The thread goes on to clarify that these rules only apply to the location of “someone else.” You can still Tweet your own whereabouts.

Historical location information is allowed, however, so long as “a reasonable time has elapsed, so that the individual is no longer at risk for physical harm.” That part of the policy could leave room for an account like @Elonjet — and while the account was briefly restored this afternoon, at the time of this writing it is once again suspended, as are the personal accounts of Jack Sweeney, the college student who runs @Elonjet. Musk has also said that “legal action” would be taken against Sweeney and “organizations who supported harm to my family” following a recent incident with a stalker and the billionaire’s son. 

UPDATE 12/14 5:08PM: Added a statement from Elon Musk that legal action would be taken against Sweeney.