Twitter puts brand safe ad controls in hands of advertisers

For Twitter, the health of public conversation is a top priority and that means working to develop opportunities to support the multiple voices, while also keeping them safe. In creating this safe space, Twitter has three simple focus areas: policies that lead, products that protect, and partnerships that drive industry-wide change. 

We know people turn to Twitter to express what they care about, and what matters to them most. “They use their voices to impact businesses and the world around us, and we need to find more ways to support them and keep them safe,” said Head of Agency Development, Emily Foat for Twitter Australia.

Unfiltered and healthy conversations

New conversation settings are allowing people to have more control over the conversations they start, and this has been made available to advertisers when composing Tweets directly through Tweet Composer or through the ads API.

The unfiltered nature of conversations can sometimes be challenging, with voices evolving quickly. Keeping up with what's happening requires constant observation, commitment, and action from Twitter to ensure the platform remains a safe and healthy place for people and brands. 

In 2019, Twitter joined the Global Alliance for Responsible Media and refreshed the platform rules, reducing 2,500 words to under 600 to have simple, clear guidelines that form the basis of a mutual agreement between users to protect and enhance conversations on the platform. Other initiatives include testing features to remove instead of blocking a follower, automated account identification, testing Safety Mode that autoblocks undesirable accounts, a misleading Tweet reporting feature and controls on Tweet replies.

“Twitter is committed to protecting the health of public conversation. We believe conversations should be healthy - meaning they should be safe, and free from abuse, harassment and misleading information - which is why we developed policies and guidelines to protect both the public and brands from objectionable, inaccurate and unacceptable content,” said Foat.

In recognition of its efforts, Twitter has successfully earned the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) Brand Safety Certified Seal, which covers Twitter’s global operations and was attained via an independent audit.

Advertisers in control

For Twitter, advertisers are a vital part of the platform’s ecosystem. “We encourage advertisers to take advantage of the tools created to improve the health of the public conversation,” Foat explained.

Twitter has invested in a suite of solutions aimed at ensuring a safe advertising experience for everyone using the platform. In the past few years, a 24/7 human review of all monetised publisher content for Amplify Pre-Roll was launched, as well as a new Brand Safety policy for the program.

“With Amplify Pre-roll, advertisers are able to choose to run ads in front of content within any of the standardised IAB content categories. During the campaign setup, advertisers are able to block specific publisher Twitter handles ensuring their content appears next to publishers of their choice,” Foat explained.

Machine Learning combined with manual human review is used to ensure ads don’t serve around objectionable content. This gives brands the ability to control a campaign’s Twitter presence through placement settings for opting out of search and profiles.

“And with Birdwatch, we’re giving the greater community the ability to clarify misleading Tweets. We believe this approach has the potential to respond quickly when misleading information spreads, adding context that people trust and find valuable,” she said.

Foat noted Twitter is committed to empowering advertisers and has “consistently demonstrated commitment to protecting advertising partners through third-party measurement, accreditation, and by introducing tools and products to maintain the health and safety of the public conversation. Twitter is focused on empowering advertisers in improving the placement of their ads, and we’re always working to expand our available controls”.

Safety is Twitter’s motto

Twitter’s goal is to create a platform that is safe for people to come together and contribute to the public conversation. “We want everyone to feel empowered to decide what kind of conversations they join, and to make Twitter their own space,” Foat said.

Although people don’t have a one-size-fits-all definition of comfort, they want to use Twitter on their own terms, so an important focus is helping people feel more comfortable Tweeting when—and how—they want. “How comfortable you're willing to get into a conversation, or where you draw that line on personal boundaries, changes day to day or even moment to moment,” she added.

"We want to continue leading with transparency and empower the global conversation. People rely on Twitter to communicate, and we take that responsibility very seriously, every day,” she said.