Twitter plans to lift restrictions on political ads. The announcement comes after advertisers fled the platform en masse following Elon Musk’s rise to power last October, followed by a surge in hate speech and the reinstatement of several previously banned far-right accounts.

As of December 18, about 70 percent of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers had stopped paying for ads on the platform prior to the acquisition, according to data analysis by market research firm Pathmatics.

Musk essentially tried to allay advertisers’ concerns by tweeting in a note to them, “Twitter clearly can’t be a messy landscape for everyone to say whatever they want without repercussions!” He also began meeting with top advertising executives and offered to meet directly with clients.

The move also brings Twitter together with many other major social networks such as Meta’s Facebook and Google’s YouTube, both of which allow paid political content. A notable exception is ByteDance’s TikTok, which still bans political ads.

The lifting of politicians and groups ad bans in place since 2019 could potentially boost Twitter’s revenue.

The Safety Twitter account announced the changes in a tweet Tuesday afternoon, stating: “We believe this ad can help promote public discussion on important issues. Today we are loosening our policy on ideologically based advertising in the US.”

The company also announced plans to expand its advertising policy, but did not specify a specific timeline other than “the coming weeks.”

“Twitter’s decision today is a clear victory for free speech, but it remains to be seen how much it will impact the company’s bottom line,” said Reid Vinais, vice president of political advertising agency Majority Strategies, which serves Republicans. “Twitter will have to prove once again that the digital public marketplace is an effective channel for persuading voters and politicians.”

This is the latest in a series of moves by Musk that reversed policies introduced by the platform’s former CEO and co-founder, Jack Dorsey. Dorsey banned all political advertising in November 2019, tweeting in October 2019 that paying for political advertising “has serious implications that the modern democratic infrastructure may not be ready for”.

In addition, former Twitter CFO Ned Segal wrote on the platform that political ads accounted for less than $3 million in mid-2018. Twitter’s total revenue in 2018 was $3 billion.

Prior to Musk’s buyout, 90 percent of Twitter’s revenue came from ads, but major advertisers have abandoned Musk’s laissez-faire control over content. In the first six months of 2022, before Musk took over, Twitter reported $195 million in subscriptions and other non-ad-related revenue.

Late last year, Musk launched an upgraded version of his Twitter Blue subscription service for $8 a month, and lifting political ad bans could be another source of revenue for the company.

According to Politico, Wall Street Journal