Midterm election ads: The social media platforms where you will (and won’t) see them

Now that Biden’s “will they/won’t they?” student loans-themed rom-com is over, there’s no better time to catch up on the other major political decisions being made right now. In a land far away from the White House, called a “Zoom meeting room,” social media platforms are making some political calls, too.

“To allow political ads ahead of the midterms, or not to…do that? That is the question.” —Shakespeare, probably.

Here’s the latest on their policies:

Meta: The Facebook and Instagram overlord recently said that—from one minute after midnight on November 1 to November 8 (US midterm election day) at 11:59pm PT—no new ads about “social issues, elections, or politics” can be published, and that “most edits” aren’t allowed either. Political ads that have been approved and gotten at least one impression before November 1 can continue running, though.

Twitter: Twitter banned political ads in 2019. As for the midterms, it outlined some steps it’s taking to combat misinformation here, but didn’t mention any ad-specific protocols.

TikTok: In a recent blog post, TikTok said it does not allow “paid political ads” or “content influencers are paid to create,” however if the influencers are compensated for political posts with gifts, or not compensated at all, their content is fair game.

Snap: The yellow ghost allows political and election-related advertising, as long as the ad says who paid for it. Snap spokesperson Pete Boogaard told Marketing Brew that it will have an announcement related to the midterms in the coming weeks, but it won’t be related to political advertising.

Pinterest: Political campaign ads haven’t been allowed on the platform since 2018, Pinterest spokesperson Johanna Santana told Marketing Brew.

BeReal: May or may not be eaten alive by Instagram well before the midterms.

Big picture: As Protocol recently pointed out, “questions remain about how apolitical these policies really are” and what kind of impact they actually have. And political ads posted by influencers make development and enforcement of ad policies even trickier.—PB