Twitter boosts ad transparency to foil political meddling
SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter on Tuesday announced steps to make it easier to see who is behind political advertisements and who they are targeting as social media giants try to thwart skullduggery.
The moves include launching an online centre with details about advertisers and their messages, according to general manager of revenue and product engineering Bruce Falck.
Twitter also plans to adopt stricter ad policies and improve controls amid heightened scrutiny surrounding the news that Russian-backed entities used online platforms to spread disinformation in the United States during the 2016 campaign to help Republican Donald Trump defeat Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.
“To make it clear when you are seeing or engaging with an electioneering ad, we will now require that electioneering advertisers identify their campaigns as such,” Falck said in an online post.
“We will also change the look and feel of these ads and include a visual political ad indicator.”
US lawmakers last month unveiled legislation to require disclosure of sources of online political ads, a move aimed at preventing a recurrence of Russian entities using social media to influence the 2016 election.
Senators behind the Honest Ads Act referred to it as an issue of national security.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Democrat Mark Warner, who was among those who introduced the bill, referred to Twitter’s move as “a good first step, particularly public disclosure of ads info”.
The act would require online platforms with at least 50 million users to maintain and disclose information on spending of at least US$500 (RM2,117) on ads for candidates or legislative issues, applying rules similar to those for television and radio.
Lawmakers are probing how foreign entities used Facebook, Google and other online platforms to sway sentiment last year.
Facebook handed to Congress about 3,000 Russia-linked ads that appeared to use hot-button issues to turn people against one another ahead of last year’s polls. AFP