Twitter has responded to criticism regarding its role in Russian misinformation campaigns with the establishment of a new centre aimed at clearing the air. Or at least the tweets. 

Rhetoric of tweets

Twitter’s new Advertising Transparency Centre allows users to view all of the ads on the platform, an analysis of their creative and content, the duration they’ve been running, and who they're targeting.

The company is also seeking to focus on ads specifically supporting political parties and candidates, dubbed “electioneering” ads, they will be redesigned to be more easily identified.

Within the Advertising Transparency Centre, a special section dedicated to electioneering will show who’s targeted, what organisation is paying for it, and how much they’ve spent.

Clearing muddy waters

Issue-based ads are harder to analyze as they don’t endorse a particular candidate. Twitter has pledged to work with their peers, industry leaders, and policy makers to identify these more nebulous ads.

The ability for any user to view information on what organisation is running an ad via Twitter is a huge win in advertorial education and could remove some of the rhetorical trickery around future electoral campaigns.

Have you had difficulty differentiating political ads in the past? What are your thoughts on the Advertisement Centre? Let us know in the comments below.