Twitter announced in January that it would allow political advertising again, reversing a 2019 ban. There is little federal regulation on what digital platforms must disclose about political advertising. Unlike platforms like Google and Meta, Twitter requires users to request ad information through a form, rather than keeping a full log of political ads on its website.
The updated data set posted by Twitter on Tuesday was shared with POLITICO by Andrew Arenge, director of operations for the Opinion Research and Electoral Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania. In previous reports, total revenue from political ads was less than $1,700. But the latest report included more than $94,000 in paid promotions from more than a dozen accounts.
The updated data also includes promoted tweets from various political accounts that were not included in the data Twitter released on Monday, said Arenge, who has been requesting data from the platform on a daily basis.
But the newly released data still did not include some promoted tweets that POLITICO had identified in March from the representative. Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.) and Adam Frisch, a Democrat running for Congress in Colorado. But it included several promoted tweets from the Sen’s account. john fetterman (D-Pa.) that POLITICO had previously identified. Promoted tweets from Fetterman’s account were largely aimed at fundraising, including one highlighting his discharge from the hospital and others emphasizing the March 31 campaign finance deadline.
Other politicians who posted ads on the site included the representative. steve scalise (R-La.), whose account promoted some tweets linking to polls on the Republican fundraising platform WinRed, and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who spent more than $10,000 on the platform. Unlike other candidates, most of Ramaswamy’s promoted tweets did not include fundraising links, but rather videos of him speaking or links to his podcast, though the ads appear to remain under Twitter’s watchful eye. political content policywhich includes tweets advocating for candidates.
The biggest spender on the site, according to Twitter data, was MammothNationUS, which calls itself «America’s conservative market.» He’s spent more than $33,000 on Twitter ads since February, according to the platform’s data.