For X it is a radical break with the recent past, because the platform decided in 2019 to ban all political advertisements. A first step in that transition was taken last January, when certain advertisements related to political campaigning were already allowed to return. Actions that have been given space again include calls to register voters.
According to the British news agency Reuters, the decision to allow campaign ads again appears to have been made in view of X’s urgent need to raise more revenue. Since billionaire Elon Musk took ownership of the network last year and loosened rules on harmful content, a large number of private advertisers have pulled out of the platform for fear of being associated with aggressive, racist and violent expressions on X.
To counter concerns about malicious political content, X announced on its company blog on Tuesday that it will take measures. For example, there will be a global ‘transparency center’, which will allow users to see which advertisements can be seen on the platform and where they come from. It also assured that false information that attempts to manipulate elections remains prohibited.