Twitter has changed its policies to allow a French government campaign encouraging people to vote in the upcoming European Parliament election, the platform said today, having previously blocked it on the grounds it was political advertising.
The social media platform had rejected an attempt by France’s interior ministry to sponsor tweets for a campaign dubbed #OuiJeVote (#YesIvote).
The move came after Twitter decided to ban political advertising altogether in France in reaction to the country’s recently adopted laws against “fake news,” which impose restrictions on platforms.
Several ministers met with Twitter representatives to argue that voting awareness is a matter of public information, not politics, and that the campaign should be allowed, the ministers said in a statement.
“Following the legislation on information manipulation, we decided to ban any targeted advertising in France, including campaigns calling people to vote. After a lot of exchanges, we have decided to allow ads encouraging electoral participation,” Twitter France said in a statement.
The French government welcomed the company’s decision.
However, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, Culture Minister Franck Riester and Digital Affairs Junior Minister Cédric O said they want Twitter to apply the fake news legislation, which imposes transparency obligations on platforms, rather than banning political ads.
“Several other platforms have already implemented those simple transparency requirements, proving they are technically feasible,” the ministers said.