It is reported that, since Elon musk took over Twitter in October 2022, corporate advertisers have fled the platform. Wary of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's rampant layoffs, reversing the permanent suspension of former US President Donald Trump and hurried launch and subsequent temporary suspension of paid verification feature led to several impersonators getting verified on the platform, advertisers have fled the platform.
A look at Twitter's announcement
Elon Musk's Twitter on Tuesday tweeted that it would relax its advertising policy for "cause-based ads" in the United States and align its ad policy with TV and other media outlets. "We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate a public conversation around important topics," the social media company tweeted.
The move will bring Twitter to par with Meta's social media platform Facebook and Alphabet Inc's YouTube. The only platform that still holds a ban on political advertisements is China's TikTok.
Why were political ads banned on Twitter in 2019?
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey had taken the decision to ban political advertisements on Twitter following the backlash it received during the 2019 elections. Deep fakes and misinformation through advertisements spread more rapidly on Twitter than news, according to an article on the journal ‘Science’.
“Internet political ads present entirely new challenges to civic discourse: machine learning-based optimization of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes. All at increasing velocity, sophistication, and overwhelming scale." —Former CEO Jack Dorsey had said.
Dorsey had banned both candidate-based ads as well as issue-based ads, barring a few exceptions like voter registration campaigns.
"We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought," tweeted Jack Dorsey, Twitter's then-chief executive, while announcing the move.
What are cause-based ads?
Cause-based ads that will be allowed on Twitter include ads that educate or raise awareness of issues such as voter registration, climate change or government programs like the Census, said Ella Irwin, Twitter's head of trust and safety, in an email.
Why Elon Musk lifted ban on political ads?
Notably, since Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, the platform has reportedly lost its top 100 advertisers including Chevrolet, Ford, Jeep, fast food chain Chipotle, and United Airlines.
While this creates a bigger dent in the coffer of the former richest man on Earth, Elon Musk, who also invested a whopping $44 billion, this also triggers the need to generate more revenue. Akin to loss of revenue, the Chief Twit Elon Musk had last month started a poll to understand the general consensus in his helming the micro-blogging platform.
Last month, Musk defended his deep cost-cutting measures and said Twitter had been facing a "negative cash flow" of $3 billion next year.
Why advertisers fled Elon Musk's Twitter?
Despite Elon Musk's assurance that Twitter will not become a “free-for-all hellscape," hate speech did skyrocket on the platform. A research by Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms, a report published in New York Times has stated that hate speech almost doubled after Elon Musk took over.
According to the report, anti-semitic speech soared 61%, slurs against Black Americans jumped to 3,876 times a day, than the previous 1,282 times a day. Further slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter rose to 3,964 times a day from 2,506 times a day
Musk quite unpopularly also lifted the ban on ex-US president Donald Trump and rapper Ye West (formerly known as Kanye West). These people had been banned for inciting violence or discrimination.
A twice-launched paid blue checkmark subscription system failed to stop imposter accounts that impersonated brands and celebrities, and also imposed a tiered pricing targeting Apple users.
This and more erratic undertakings by Elon musk forced corporate advertisers to flee the platform.
Return of misinformation, deep fakes?
Empirical understanding states that Elon Musk's inconsistent and hurried change in policies for the microblogging platform has more often than not backfired causing more than ever chaos on Twitter.
Political advertisers are more likely to fill the void left by corporate advertisers ahead of the 2024 election cycle. However, considering the increasing attention paid to the influence of social media on the evolution of the political debate, it will be worth observing if Musk's latest policy keeps him and the company afloat or if this is just another step in the highway for a complete obliteration.
