Thread by @markscott82

So @twitter gave more details on its ban on political ads (that will come into force on Nov 22). Couple of caveats: political ad spend on Twitter is tiny vs that on @facebook, ban doesn’t cover “issues,” likely leading to groups switching from backing politicians to...

... political-related was themes like gun control or climate change.
In short, this is more about differentiating @twitter from @Facebook than it is about actual making a meaningful chance to how paid-for political messages are spread on social networks

Gotta give @jack credit for taking a stand, albeit one from an existing weak position that won’t hurt the company’s bottom line.

But riddle me this: who’s going to decide which “issue-based” ads are allowed on platform? That, imho, is an inherently political act, one likely to involve making decisions about political speech

The same goes when @Facebook/@google roll out their new policies on reducing ability of political groups to micro-target ppl online. At some point, someone inside the company has to decide how to do that — another inherently political decision

My point is this: be it a political ad, issue ad, or regular commercial advertising: all these decisions mean taking a side, picking a position. You can’t differentiate, imho, between political and non-political

To pretend otherwise misrepresents how online ad networks operate: they are inherently built on targeting specialized messages to small groups of online users who have shown affinity (through their data footprints) about product, service or cause

To say that you can separate out the political motivations of advertisers from those with purely commercially interests is almost impossible (ie: does a soda producer selling sugared drinks to kids count as a possible political act? Some would say so).

This comes down to ownership of content put on these networks, and it’s hard to say the platforms are responsible for political content (and limit it) and non-political material (which they won’t touch). Once you have opened that Pandora’s box, you cant shut it again

Rant over. Thoughts appreciated.