On Tuesday, Elon Musk lifted the ban on political ads imposed by the previous Twitter administration to combat disinformation and prior to his acquisition of the platform and changing its name to X.
The permission to publish potentially misleading political propaganda on the X platform came less than a week after former President Donald Trump re-posted on it for the first time since January 2021.
Trump posted on his account a picture of him after his arrest in Georgia, in reference to his return to the platform, which was his favorite propaganda machine during his years in the White House.
Twitter had permanently suspended Trump’s account after the storming of the Capitol building on January 6, as it violated the platform’s policy on glorifying violence.
Musk, who bought the platform last year, reactivated the former president’s account in November 2022, but Trump did not publish anything at the time and preferred to continue communicating with his supporters on his own platform, “Truth Social”.
The X platform considered in its blog that allowing political ads, which will be applied first in the United States, comes “based on our commitment to freedom of expression.”
The blog confirmed that X policies prohibit the promotion of false or misleading information, including false allegations intended to undermine confidence in elections.
Trump attached his post, which includes a picture of him suspended, with a comment saying, “He interfered in the elections.”
The US judiciary set March 4, 2024, as the date for the start of Trump’s trial on charges of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 elections, thus conducting one of the largest criminal trials in American history at the height of the election season.
“X” indicated that it is working to expand the sections on security and elections to focus on combating manipulation on the platform, and that it will provide an electronic center through which political advertisements can be reviewed.
Musk cut staff after buying Twitter, raising concerns about his ability to manage content and operate reliably.
X said it was updating its civic integrity policy to protect the election and combat content intended to intimidate or deceive voters, in keeping with Musk’s philosophy of letting people say what they want.
And the platform stated in its blog that “(X) should not determine the truthfulness of the disputed information.”
“Instead, we must enable our users to express their views and have open discussions during elections, in line with our commitment to protecting freedom of expression.”
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