Bix dot Blog

Will Oremus highlights a problem with Twitter’s forthcoming ban on political ads: defining “political”. Oremus points out that issue ads about climate change likely run afoul of the new policy, but an oil company would not. This despite being able to make a valid argument that advertisements by and for the fossil fuel industry in the early 21st century necessarily themselves are politcal in nature. One of many open questions, then, is whether banning only “political” ads favors the status quo and the powers-that-be and disfavors challenges to them—something similarly raised by Noah Kulwin when it comes to political candidates, where, says Kulwin, “social media advertising is most critical for political challengers — not incumbents”.