X Reverses Ban on Political Advertising, Focuses on Combating Fake News
Subtitle: Social Media Platform X, formerly known as Twitter, announces the lifting of its ban on political advertising, emphasizing the importance of free speech while promising to combat fake news.
Elon Musk’s online platform, X (formerly Twitter), will once again allow political advertising after a four-year ban. The prohibition, introduced in October 2019, will initially be lifted in the United States, according to a recent blog post.
X cited its commitment to free speech as the reason for reversing the ban. However, the platform emphasized the implementation of regulations to prevent the dissemination of false and misleading information in paid political messages. This includes countering misrepresentations aimed at undermining public trust in the legitimacy of elections—an endeavor that could potentially restrict the ways in which former President Donald Trump and his supporters utilize X during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Despite factual evidence to the contrary, Trump still maintains that he was stripped of victory in the previous presidential election through fraudulent means.
Elon Musk, owner of X, has reinstated Trump’s account on the platform, which had been suspended for an extended period. However, Trump has only used the account once since its reactivation, sharing a police photo taken in a Georgia prison. Additionally, the former president prefers to engage with his followers on his own Twitter alternative, Truth Social. Presently, he has only amassed 6.4 million subscribers on that platform, while he has regained his more than 80 million Twitter followers on X.
Since Musk acquired Twitter for approximately $44 billion in October of last year, the platform has faced revenue challenges among other issues. Musk recently admitted that advertising revenue is still half of what it was prior to the acquisition. X is currently expanding its teams dedicated to detecting manipulations and fake accounts, as stated in the blog post.
Following the acquisition, Musk laid off over half of Twitter’s 7,000 employees. Reports indicate that the departments responsible for platform security were significantly affected by these cuts.