Elon Musk’s reinstatement of various Twitter accounts has brought many controversial profiles back to the social media platform, which had been removed by previous management. However, there are problems.
According to a new report published by the Washington Post, the advertisements of about 40 major brands and high-profile organizations they were seen in the pages of white nationalists and extremists. Ads from brands such as Amazon, Uber, Snap and GoDaddy, media companies such as USA Today and Morning Brew, as well as government organizations such as the US Department of Health would be affected.
would spot the ads about profiles of Andrew Anglin and Patrick Casey: the former is the editor of a neo-Nazi website, while the latter previously led the nationalist group Identity Evropa. Twitter’s previous management had banned them in 2013 and 2019, but the profiles were reinstated following Musk’s amnesty. The same newspaper also explains that the advertisements would have been seen next to posts by white supremacists.
The United States Department of Justice immediately ran for cover and in response to a request from the Washington Post, it announced that it will withdraw the advertisements as displayed on “Twitter accounts that are not consistent with our values”. USA Today, on the other hand, said it would reach out to Twitter for guidance.
Some checks carried out by The Verge showed that following the report, the advertisements would no longer be present on the pages in question, but it is not clear whether Twitter has taken action.
