Twitter shows billing details for political ads in India

New Delhi: With social media turning out to be a major battleground for political parties in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Twitter has started to show billing details of political ads as its Ads Transparency Center for the country went live on Monday.

The move follows a similar initiative by Facebook launched last month.

Political campaigning ads may only be promoted via the use of Promoted Tweets and In-Stream Video Ads; no other Twitter advertising products can be used at this time.

The Ads Transparency Center shows billing information, spend, and impression data for each promoted tweet.

"The billing information tab shows all billing addresses -- city and state only -- associated with the ad account," Twitter said.

Political campaigning ads on Twitter refer to ads purchased by a political party recognised by the Election Commission of India, ads purchased by a candidate and ads that advocate for or against a clearly identified candidate or political party for Indian general elections.

Political campaigning advertisers must go through Twitter's certification process and provide profile photo, header photo, and website must be consistent with the handle's online presence.

The biography of advertisers should also include a website that provides valid contact information, Twitter said.

Earlier, the data from Facebook's Ad Archive report showed that advertisers in India spent over Rs 4 crore for political ads on the platform last month and more than half of the amount came from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its backers.

The Ad Archive report showed that Facebook has started taking down political ads that were placed without a disclaimer including government campaigns like Digital India.