Soon, greater accountability and transparency will be a thing for social media political advertising beyond just the confines of the U.S.
Twitter announced Tuesday that it will be expanding its political campaigning policy and Ads Transparency Center to include the member states of the European Union, Australia, and India.
The expansion will be implemented beginning on March 11, at which time “only certified advertisers will be allowed to run political campaigning ads on our service,” according to Twitter. Bodies wishing to advertise on the platform must apply now to receive certification.
The policy, which has been in place in the U.S. Since last year, requires any body interested in running political ads on Twitter to go through a process proving their identity and location. The certification process reportedly includes providing copies of a national ID, as well copies of registration and national election authority for candidates and political parties. The policy is intended to prevent foreign entities from interfering in elections.
The Ads Transparency Center, meanwhile, allows anyone to see all the ads running on Twitter. This includes information about ad spend and targeting demographics in the case of political ads.
Twitter plans to further expand to other “key markets” over the course of the year.