Facebook CEO defends 'free expression' after Twitter CEO enforces political ad ban

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured left) has defended the platform's right to include political ads, after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (pictured right) subtly called out Facebook giant for?"working hard" to avoid spreading of misleading information, but ultimately continuing to allow political ads.

In an earnings call, Zuckerberg addressed debate about acceptance of political speech in social media platforms, saying that: "Some people accuse us of allowing this speech because they think all we care about is making money. That's wrong. I can assure you, from a business perspective, the controversy this creates far outweighs the very small percent of our business that these political ads make up."

According to Zuckerberg, the company faces a lot of criticism from both progressives and conservatives in the United States. However, the company aims to stick to its principles of defending?free expression which has been important for driving progress and building more inclusive societies around the world. Zuckerberg was also of the view that political ads can be an important part of voice particularly for candidates and advocacy groups the media might not otherwise cover. As such, without blocking ads altogether, Facebook will be increasing?transparency in ads.?"The reality is that we believe deeply that political speech is important and should be able to be heard, and that's what?s driving us," Zuckerberg said.

The earnings call was scheduled an hour after Dorsey announced Twitter's decision to remove political advertising globally. In a series of tweets, Dorsey said political message reach should be earned and not bought, and continued to explain the company's move.

"A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimised and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money," he added. According to Dorsey, while?internet advertising is powerful and effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings "significant risks" to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions.

Taking a subtle hit at Zuckerberg's business model, Dorsey said:

For instance, it?s not credible for us to say: ?We?re working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad?well...they can say whatever they want! ???

? jack ?????? (@jack) October 30, 2019

Twitter, in the meantime, will be stopping political ads altogether, explaining that?Internet political ads present new challenges to civic discourse. According to Dorsey, it is best for the company to focus on the root problems, without the additional burden and complexity taking money brings. He added:

"We?re well aware we're a small part of a much larger political advertising ecosystem. Some might argue our actions today could favour incumbents. But we have witnessed many social movements reach massive scale without any political advertising. I trust this will only grow," he said.

Twitter will share its final policy by 15 November, and enforce its new policy on 22 November to?provide current advertisers a notice period before this change goes into effect. Before concluding the announcement, Dorsey said: "This isn?t about free expression. This is about paying for reach. And paying to increase the reach of political speech has significant ramifications that today?s democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle. It?s worth stepping back in order to address."