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Announcing new US issue ads policy

By and
Thursday, 30 August 2018

Today we are announcing the next phase of our efforts to provide increased transparency for advertising on Twitter, with the launch of a new US-specific Issue Ads Policy and certification process.

This new policy will impact the following:

  • Ads that refer to an election or a clearly identified candidate, or
  • Ads that advocate for legislative issues of national importance

Examples of legislative issues of national importance include topics such as abortion, civil rights, climate change, guns, healthcare, immigration, national security, social security, taxes, and trade. These are the top-level issues we are considering under this policy, and we expect this list to evolve over time.

Getting certified

To provide people with additional information about individuals or organizations promoting issue ads, we’ve established a certification process that verifies an advertiser’s identity and location within the US.

Advertisers that promote ads that fall under this policy must apply for certification and meet specific eligibility requirements. Advertisers can apply for certification here.

Exemption for news organizations

The intention of this policy is to provide the public with greater transparency into ads that seek to influence people’s stance on issues that may influence election outcomes. We don’t believe that news organizations running ads on Twitter that report on these issues, rather than advocate for or against them, should be subject to this policy.

News publishers that meet specific criteria will be able to apply for exemption from this policy. Learn more here and submit your application here.

Increased transparency

Similar to political campaigning ads, issue ads will be specifically labeled as such within the timeline so that people will be able to clearly see who is promoting the ads and easily access more information.

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We will also include issue ads within the Ads Transparency Center, which will provide the same level of detail as political campaigning ads, including billing information, ad spend, and targeting information.

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Enforcement

Enforcement of this new issue ads policy will begin September 30th, 2018, in the US only, after which ads from advertisers that have not been properly certified will be halted and the advertiser will be prompted to become certified.

What’s next?

We are continuing our efforts to expand our political content policies globally and will continue to work towards providing increased transparency for all advertising on Twitter.

For what this means for brands, visit the Twitter Marketing Blog. For any additional questions, visit the FAQs.

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