Adobe to ban political ads on its platform
July 31, 2020
Adobe will stop allowing political ads on its platform by the end of August, a person familiar with the company’s decision said Friday, making it the latest tech company to restrict political ads in the run-up to the presidential election.
The person was not authorized to speak publicly. Adobe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move follows Twitter outright banning political ads on its website last year, and Google and Facebook adding restrictions to political ads running on their platforms.
Adobe does not have a large presence in the political ad space. A Democratic digital operative, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, said “very few” political operations use the platform.
However, Adobe is a major player in the advertising technology market, which helps serve, buy and sell advertising online and on the mobile web. While not used as frequently as Google’s products, Adobe Advertising Cloud is a major platform for advertisers to buy space on websites, mobile web and on television. The company brought in $3.2 billion in revenue last year from advertising.
As a result, political advertisers who don't want to have to comply with Google's restrictions will have much more limited options. Google has restrictions on how political ads can be targeted, limiting advertisers to age, gender and zip code and prohibiting targeting based on party affiliation or prior voting history. The company also announced Friday that it would limit advertisements that seek to show or seek to distribute hacked materials.
Adobe's decision was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Source: https://www.politico.com/
