Twitter to ban political ads worldwide on its platform
Washington: Twitter said Wednesday it would stop accepting political advertising globally on its platform, responding to growing concerns over misinformation from politicians on social media.
Chief executive Jack Dorsey tweeted that while internet advertising "is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions."
The move comes with Facebook under pressure to apply fact-checking to politicians running ads with debunked claims.
Dorsey said the new policy, details of which will be unveiled next month and enforced from November 22, would ban ads on political issues as well as from candidates. "We considered stopping only candidate ads, but issue ads present a way to circumvent," he said.
"Additionally, it isn't fair for everyone but candidates to buy ads for issues they want to push. So we're stopping these too." Dorsey said the company took the action to head off potential problems from "machine learning-based optimisation of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes."
Twitter's move comes in contrast to the Facebook policy that allows political speech and ads to run without fact-checking on the leading social network.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said political advertising is not a major source of revenue but adds that he believes it is important to allow everyone a "voice," and that banning political ads would favor incumbents.
Dorsey said he disagreed with Zuckerberg's assessment.
"We have witnessed many social movements reach massive scale without any political advertising. I trust this will only grow," he added. "This is the right thing to do for democracy in America and all over the world," 2016 US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted.
"What say you, @Facebook ?" she asked, calling out the other social media giant. Twitter's chief financial officer Ned Segal said the move would have little financial impact.
"Since we are getting questions: This decision was based on principle, not money," he said. "As context, we've disclosed that political ad spend for the 2018 US midterms was (less than) 3M."
Social media platforms have been challenged by President Donald Trump's campaign and its use of ads that contain claims critics say have been debunked by independent fact-checkers.
"Twitter just walked away from hundreds of millions of dollars of potential revenue, a very dumb decision for their stockholders," Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale said.
"Will Twitter also be stopping ads from biased liberal media outlets who will now run unchecked as they buy obvious political content meant to attack Republicans?" Democrats have stepped up pressure on Facebook to remove political ads, and a group of employees has also called for stronger efforts by the social network to clamp down on "civic misinformation" from politicians.
Other initial reactions to the Twitter announcement was positive.
"Until privately-owned social media platforms can develop and consistently enforce standards to prevent demonstrably inaccurate information in political advertising, this is the right move," said Michelle Amazeen, a Boston University professor specializing in political communication.
Nina Jankowicz, a Wilson Center fellow specializing in disinformation, also welcomed the decision. "It's great that this move has been made globally and not just within the United States," she said.
"Too often these companies operate in a cloud of willful ignorance about the effects their products have outside our borders." Jankowicz said the decision could level the playing field by preventing wealthier candidates and groups dominating the social conversation.
"Paid speech essentially quashes some groups' ability to speak out and be heard because they can't compete with the reach that their richer counterparts pay for," she said.
More cautiously, eMarketer senior analyst Jasmine Enberg said it remained unclear how much impact the change would have, given that political advertising is not a major part of Twitter's core business.
"And given the nature of the platform, people, publishers and politicians will still use Twitter to discuss politics organically, meaning that it won't fully solve the problem of misinformation," Enberg said.
Syracuse University professor Jennifer Grygiel also was skeptical, noting in a tweet: "Twitter has promised lots of things in the past that they haven't delivered on.
"We have to wait and see how effective the new political policy will be."
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Allu Arjun didn't leave theatre despite being told about woman's death: Hyderabad police
Hyderabad, Dec 22: Top Telugu actor Allu Arjun did not leave the theatre during the screening of 'Pushpa-2' on December 4 despite being told to do so in view of a stampede in which a woman died, police officials claimed on on Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference on the annual round-up of 2024, city police commissioner C V Anand showed a video, made by police, on the situation that prevailed when the stampede occurred.
The video was made by collating footage, including from news channels and cell phone clips. It suggests the actor remained in the theatre till the midnight.
Anand did not make any comment on the video, but said the media can draw its own conclusions.
A police official talked about the sequence of events on the fateful night of December 4.
He said that he and other police officials informed a manager of Allu Arjun about the death of the woman and told him that the situation was out of control. He indicated that they were not allowed to meet the actor.
Allu Arjun's staff members told them that they would convey the matter to the actor but did not do so, he said.
The official said he later managed to reach the actor, told him about the woman's death and asked him to leave the theatre so that the fans don't harm each other while trying to catch a glimpse of him.
The official also told the actor that security arrangements would be made for his exit.
However, the actor said he would go only after watching the film, the police official said.
Later, accompanied by a senior officer, the official went inside and brought the actor out, he said.
Amid allegations that bouncers hired by Allu Arjun pushed crowds as well as policemen when the stampede occurred at the cinema hall, the police commissioner warned that stringent action as per law would be taken if THE bouncers indeed misbehaved with the police on duty.
The VIPs would be made responsible for the behaviour of the bouncers hired by them, he said.
Asked if the police would appeal against the interim bail granted to Allu Arjun, the commissioner refused to give a direct response, just saying it is part of the investigation.
What course of action is taken would be known in the days to come, he said.
He also declined to comment when asked if the family of the deceased told him about Allu Arjun's team or film production team allegedly threatening them not to speak on the issue.
Meanwhile, state Cinematography Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy found fault with Allu Arjun responding on Saturday to the debate in the Legislative Assembly.
The minister, who observed that the actor should have respect for the government and the chief minister, demanded an apology from Allu Arjun to the government and the CM.
"This government is never vindictive. As Cinematography Minister, we allowed benefit shows and hiking ticket prices to promote the film industry," he said.
However, Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar found fault with CM Revanth Reddy for his comments on Allu Arjun in the Assembly on Saturday.
The comments of the CM sounded like character assassination of Allu Arjun and hurting the Telugu film industry, he alleged in a statement.
Later in the day, Sanjay Kumar visited a boy who is undergoing treatment in a hospital after being injured in the stampede.
"Consoled his father over the heartbreaking loss of his wife, Revathi. I pray to god that Sritej recovers at the earliest. Assured support to the family in this difficult time," Kumar said on X.
Earlier in the day, state DGP Jitender told reporters in Karimnagar district that film personalities and all others should understand that safety and security of citizens is utmost important, and also conduct themselves accordingly.
