Twitter recently announced that it would no longer be allowing state-controlled news outlets to advertise on the platform. The accounts in question will still be able to use Twitter however, without having the ability to advertise. The change was implemented after Xinhua, a media outlet backed by China, sponsored ads against the Honk Kong protestors.
All news organizations that are controlled, either editorially or financially, will be affected by this change. It should be noted that taxpayer-funded outlets will be excluded from this policy, as confirmed by Twitter. The current plan is to notify the accounts that will no longer be able to advertise on the platform. Such entities will be granted 30 days to “offboard” from the advertising products offered by Twitter.
Twitter claims that it has suspended 936 accounts belonging to users from the People’s Republic of China, for a range of violations, as they were found intentionally attempting to spread political conflict in Honk Kong. The suspended accounts are part of a misinformation campaign backed by the state, according to CNBC.
The misinformation-spreading accounts and the sponsored ads from Xinhua will surely create problems for Twitter. An overwhelmingly negative response can be expected for Twitter’s decision of not allowing state-backed news outlets to advertise on the platform and suspending the above-mentioned accounts. However, this is a compromise that Twitter had to make in order to appease the free speech advocates.
Photo: Reuters
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All news organizations that are controlled, either editorially or financially, will be affected by this change. It should be noted that taxpayer-funded outlets will be excluded from this policy, as confirmed by Twitter. The current plan is to notify the accounts that will no longer be able to advertise on the platform. Such entities will be granted 30 days to “offboard” from the advertising products offered by Twitter.
Twitter claims that it has suspended 936 accounts belonging to users from the People’s Republic of China, for a range of violations, as they were found intentionally attempting to spread political conflict in Honk Kong. The suspended accounts are part of a misinformation campaign backed by the state, according to CNBC.
- Also read: Twitter’s Trying to Be More Transparent to Users With Its New Third-party Apps Authorization Policy
The misinformation-spreading accounts and the sponsored ads from Xinhua will surely create problems for Twitter. An overwhelmingly negative response can be expected for Twitter’s decision of not allowing state-backed news outlets to advertise on the platform and suspending the above-mentioned accounts. However, this is a compromise that Twitter had to make in order to appease the free speech advocates.
Photo: Reuters
Read next: Twitter is planning to provide more Ads API for advertisers
