Democrats Are Wrong To Praise Twitter’s Political Ad Ban

November 19, 2019 / News Coverage

This article appeared in “AdExchanger Politics” column  on November 19, 2019 and is written by Mark Jablonowski, managing partner at DSPolitical.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently announced that his social media platform would no longer allow political advertising. It was a move cheered on by prominent Democrats from Hillary Clinton to Pete Buttigieg and others.

I lead a Democratic technology firm that helps campaigns reach voters, but I believe party leaders are missing the mark entirely.

Don’t get me wrong, there are real problems with political digital advertising, but banning this sort of communication is not the answer. In fact, it sets a horrible precedent for other platforms and diminishes the need to respond to several issues plaguing politics online.

The decision was a headline-grabbing publicity stunt that used Facebook’s wrong-headed policy of allowing demonstrably false political ads as cover for its own failings. Twitter will not be losing much money either since few political dollars actually find their way to the platform.

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