Twitter introduces steps to increase ad transparency

Twitter has announced steps to dramatically increase transparency for all ads on the platform, including political ads and issue-based ads. In addition, Twitter will also be improving controls for their customers and adopting stricter advertising policies. 

In the coming weeks, Twitter will launch an industry-leading transparency center that will offer everyone visibility into who is advertising on Twitter, details behind those ads, and tools to share feedback. 

Specifically, the transparency center will show:

• All ads that are currently running on Twitter, including Promoted-Only ads
• How long ads have been running
• Ad creative associated with those campaigns
• Ads targeted to you, as well as personalized information on which ads you are eligible to receive based on targeting

People can also report inappropriate ads or give negative feedback for every ad running on Twitter, whether the ad targets them or not. This feedback will help Twitter more quickly remove inappropriate ads from Twitter, and show more relevant ads in users’ timeline. 

Twitter will also clearly demarcate political (electioneering) ads. Electioneering ads are those that refer to a clearly identified candidate (or party associated with that candidate) for any elected office. For this, the platform will now require that electioneering advertisers identify their campaigns as such. Twitter will also change the look and feel of these ads and include a visual political ad indicator. 

In the transparency center, there will be a special section for electioneering ads that will include:

• All ads that are currently running or that have run on Twitter, including Promoted-Only ads
• Disclosure on total campaign ad spend by advertiser
• Transparency about the identity of the organization funding the campaign
• Targeting demographics, such as age, gender and geography
• Historical data about all electioneering ad spending by advertiser

Twitter will also update its policies for electioneering advertisers to:

• Include stricter requirements on who can serve these ads and limit targeting options
• Require electioneering advertisers to self-identify as such
• Introduce stronger penalties for advertisers who violate policies

To ensure stricter policies and transparency around issue-based ads, Twitter will work with its peer companies, other industry leaders, policy makers, and ad partners to clearly define them quickly and integrate them into the new approach. 

These updates will be first made in the US, and will then be rolled out globally.