(Reuters) – Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) will ban political advertising on its platform next month, the company’s chief executive said on Wednesday, as social media platforms face pressure to block attempts to steer elections with false information.
“We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally,” said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a statement. “We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought.” bit.ly/36gQCiS
Social media companies, including Twitter rival Facebook Inc (FB.O) face growing pressure to stop selling ads that spread inaccurate information.
Facebook has pledged efforts to deal with misinformation on its platform after Russian propaganda on that platform before the 2016 U.S. presidential election was seen to affect the outcome of that race, which was won by Donald Trump.
Earlier this month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the company’s policy, saying it did not want to stifle political speech.
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