Twitter Putting Kaibosh on Pre-Election Political Ads

Company Won't Run Ads from Parties Or Advocates

Twitter will ban all political ads in Canada in the lead up to the federal election.

The social media platform says that, during the pre-election period starting June 30th, it will not run any political ad from either a party or advocacy group. This comes following a new law introduced by the Liberals, Bill C-76, that requires social media platforms like Twitter to develop advertising libraries that would provide transparancy surrounding political advertising. This new law, which only applies to the pre-election period, is an effort to prevent the spread of misinformation, or “fake news” ahead of the federal vote, the same seen during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

Michele Austin, a member of Twitter Canada’s Public Policy team, says the company will use that pre-election period to get their ducks in a row. “During this period, our policy and enforcement teams will be building the necessary infrastructure and product support to ensure we are appropriately prepared for the critical election period. After the writ is dropped, we will allow regulated political advertising including issue advocacy ads, which will be published in our Ads Transparency Center in compliance with Canadian law.”

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