Twitter Launches Political Ad Tracking Tools in Europe, India, and Australia

Twitter on Tuesday rolled out tools in Europe, India, and Australia, that will make it easier for voters to identify political campaign ads. Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have come under pressure to do more to combat fake news and the spread of extremism and propaganda online. The political campaigning ads policy was introduced during the US midterm elections.

In essence it means that anyone can view ads put on Twitter endorsing a party or a candidate on its Ads Transparency Center, with details on billing information, ad spending and demographic targeting data. The ads will be available indefinitely.

A visual label and disclaimer information on promoted content will allow users to identify political campaign ads and who paid for them.

"Last May, we launched our Political Campaigning Policy in the United States to provide clear insight into how we define political content and who is advertising political content on Twitter. In conjunction, we launched the Ads Transparency Center (ATC). The ATC allows anyone across the globe to view ads that have been served on Twitter, with even more details on political campaigning ads, including ad spend and targeting demographics," Twitter said in its blog post.

It said candidates or organisations will have to go through a certification process with proof of identity before they can run political campaigning ads on its site. This policy will kick off on March 11, and guidelines for India are available here.

Written with inputs from Reuters