Expert available to speak on end of political advertising on Twitter

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently announced that Twitter will stop all political advertising on the platform globally in an effort to address misinformation online.  

An expert from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is available to speak with media on the decision.

Rachel Davis Mersey is the associate dean of research and a professor at Medill. Her areas of expertise include the influence of digital media on the function of newspapers, understanding audience’s information needs and the role of social media in the socio-political landscape. She can be reached at rdmersey@northwestern.edu.

Quote from Professor Davis Mersey

“It's important to keep in mind that Twitter's ban is focused on political advertising, a move that will reduce but not eliminate toxicity and misinformation on the platform. Inaccuracies posted in personal Twitter accounts—those of politicians and others—may still be shared widely. And Twitter will have to reconcile exactly what is a political ad. It may be easy to distinguish when we are talking about elections but what about issues such as vaccinations and human rights? 

“Still, this marks a strong move by Twitter to return to the ‘dream’ of social media, to denote the line between paid and earned media at least in the realm of politics.”