Short message service: Twitter wants to allow political advertising again

Short messaging service Twitter had banned political advertising on the platform in 2019 – the reason was the spread of fake news. New owner Musk has announced that the ban will be lifted.

Short message service Twitter says it will lift its 2019 ban on political advertising on the social media platform. “We’re relaxing our advertising policies for relevant ads in the US,” the company said. “We also plan to allow political advertising in the coming weeks.”

New source of income?

Apparently, Twitter wants to open up new sources of income. The ban was enacted by then Twitter chief Jack Dorsey in 2019 in response to misinformation spread across social media.

But political advertising was only a fraction of advertising revenue: In 2018, when the congressional midterm elections were held, it was $3 million. Competitor Facebook lifted its 2020 election ban on political advertising in March 2021.

Claim for arrears

Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has imposed harsh austerity measures after buying the service for $44 billion, while also seeking new sources of income.

At the same time he’s probably also trying to bail out elsewhere. It is now known that the owner of an office space in San Francisco has filed a lawsuit against Twitter. According to the report, Twitter owes the owner $136,260 in rent for rooms on the building’s 30th floor in downtown San Francisco. Twitter leased the offices in 2017.

Unpaid rent also for the company headquarters

Twitter’s headquarters are located elsewhere in San Francisco. Even there, the company would be in arrears with the rent payments, as reported by the New York Times. Twitter initially did not respond to a request for comment. The company no longer has a press office.

Since the Musk takeover, the company is said to have lost about three-quarters of its original more than 7,500 employees worldwide: Thousands have been laid off, others have quit. Meanwhile, high-end designer office furniture and kitchen appliances, including a pizza oven, are being auctioned off by Twitter.