Advertising potentially offensive content policy and best practices

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Twitter Ads Policies

This policy applies to Twitter’s paid advertising products, which are Tweets, trends and accounts.

For more information about Twitter’s paid advertising products, click here.

For information about Twitter’s other policies, click here.

Updated November 13, 2013

Twitter provides a platform for its users to share and receive a wide range of ideas and content, and we greatly value and defend our users' ability to express themselves.

Advertisers on Twitter have access to a wide range of targeting option to promote their Tweets to a wider audience. Because of this, advertisers on Twitter have the power to reach an audience beyond the users who choose to follow their account.

This article describes best practices and Twitter policies designed to help advertisers avoid offending users with vulgar or obscene content.

Twitter has a prohibited sensitive content policy. For information about this policy, please refer to the Twitter Ads Policies.

Target the Right Audience

Consider the audience you may reach through Twitter Ads. When configuring a campaign, be cognizant of the audience(s) you may reach and align your targeting and message in a way that is appropriate.

Targeting Promoted Tweets to users like your followers

Promoted Tweets in timelines to users who are not following you can be misunderstood and deemed offensive or inappropriate without proper context. If you think your message may cause offense to users like your followers, or could be misinterpreted, consider targeting only your followers.
Twitter is made up of users of varying ages and walks of life, who have a wide range of interests and sensitivities. Keep this in mind as you consider which Tweets to target to users like your followers.

Note: Promoting inflammatory content is a violation of Twitter’s Advertising Policy.

Targeting Promoted Tweets to search results

Monitor the keywords in your campaigns. Be aware of current events that may be related to the keywords you are targeting, and update your campaigns accordingly to prevent your Promoted Tweets from displaying when a user searches for a sensitive news topic.
Twitter may disable the use of obscene and inflammatory keywords.  You will be notified in your campaign interface if you add a disabled keyword to a campaign.

Note: Targeting audiences that would likely be offended by the product or service you are promoting is a violation of Twitter’s Advertising Policy.

Promoted Trends

Promoted Trends are visible to all users in the region the trend is running.
Do not select a hashtag or terms that are inappropriate for certain audiences or age groups. The text and media content of the Tweet associated for the Promoted Trend should be appropriate for all audiences.

Have questions or feedback about something on this page?

If you are an advertiser whose account or Tweets are under review and you would like to check on the status or request an expedited review, please log in to ads.twitter.com and file a support ticket using the Help? button in the top right corner of your ads dashboard.

Learn more about blocking or dismissing ads by reading this article on “Reporting Twitter Ads”. To report an ad that is potentially violating these policies, use the Report an Ad form.

Using Twitter Ads Policy, the Twitter Rules and our Terms of Service, we will examine reported violations and take appropriate action.

If you are interested in advertising on Twitter and want to learn more, please visit business.twitter.com.