Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Tuesday, Sep 30, 2025

Twitter Is Banning Political Ads Seeking Votes Or Money

Twitter Is Banning Political Ads Seeking Votes Or Money

“We’re absolutely going to make mistakes here. But we firmly believe that it’s better for us to start getting it right and giving people ways to tell us how it’s wrong.”
Twitter revealed a long-awaited political ads policy on Friday that banned paid content from candidates, political parties, and government officials, but allowed advertisers to raise awareness around certain causes including environmental issues and social equity.

The policy, which will go into effect next week, will prohibit political ads that reference candidates, parties, government officials, ballot measures, legislation, regulation, directives, or judicial outcomes. It will also ban ads that appeal for votes or solicit financial support for political causes.

When CEO Jack Dorsey announced the company’s initial plan last month, critics wondered how Twitter would define paid political content, much less enforce a complete ban on it. Its policy, however, carves out certain exemptions -including some for news publishers -and will allow for companies and organizations to run ads that advocate for certain causes with some restrictions.

BuzzFeed News had previously reported about Twitter’s plans through discussions the San Francisco-based company was having with advertisers. In those meetings earlier this month, Twitter staffers suggested that ads that spread awareness about issues of national significance would still be allowed, while those advocating for candidates or legislation would be banned.

In a call with reporters on Friday, Twitter’s senior leadership acknowledged that the policy would evolve over time and that the company, which will use a combination of algorithms and human moderators to flag prohibited political ads, will run into problems.

“We’re absolutely going to make mistakes here,” said Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s legal and policy head. “But we firmly believe that it’s better for us to start getting it right and giving people ways to tell us how it’s wrong.”

In the US, the company said that advertisements from political action committees and tax-exempt social welfare organizations, or 501(c)(4)s, would be prohibited. Twitter will allow, however, advertisements from approved news publishers that reference political coverage but not ads with content that's for or against a political issue. For example, a newspaper can run ads highlighting its coverage of President Donald Trump, but it cannot publish ads that highlight its editorial board’s endorsement of a certain candidate.

The social network will also permit certain “cause-based” advertising without discrimination based on the point of view of those ads, ranging from fracking advocacy to calls to combat global warming. That stated neutrality is in contradiction to fears raised by presidential candidate and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who suggested that Twitter would allow ads from fossil fuel companies while preventing ads from climate change activists, and by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who raised fears about bias in Twitter’s new policy on Monday.

“The Star Chamber’s Censorship Rules get more incoherent,” he tweeted. “Simpler restatement of their policy: ‘Lefty PC propaganda will be allowed; actual “facts” will not. Trust us. We’re Silicon Valley billionaires. And we know best.’”

Twitter’s new policy would still allow those ads from activists so long as they do not “have the primary goal of driving political, judicial, legislative, or regulatory outcomes” and are tied to an organization’s “publicly stated values.”

For cause-based advertising, organizations must go through a certification process and will only be allowed to target users down to the state or province level, not by zip codes. Those advertisers will also be prevented from targeting based on keywords or terms associated with politics, including “liberal” or “conservative.”

Del Harvey, vice president of trust and safety, said that Twitter would maintain a public list of non-targetable words for the sake of transparency. She also noted that Twitter did not anticipate any significant financial impact to its business because of the policy change.

When Dorsey announced late last month that Twitter would “stop all political advertising,” the San Francisco–based company was praised by the likes of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Others criticized Twitter, arguing that the policy would favor political incumbents by preventing challengers from gaining name recognition. Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, called it a move to “silence conservatives.”

On Friday’s call, Gadde and Harvey noted that there will be a learning process in determining what ads are appropriate and acknowledged that bad actors would try to game the system.

“We fully expect this to evolve over time,” said Harvey. The new policy will go into effect on Nov. 22.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×