Twitter's ad 'Transparency Center' is a good first step, but doesn't solve the problem

Twitter knows it has an ad problem. 

On Tuesday, the company announced a series of reforms aimed at disclosing more information about its ads. This new policy followed reports that the social media behemoth's own tools were used by Russia-linked groups in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election, and represents a good first step toward cleaning up Twitter's ecosystem. 

And while the moves may indeed be that much needed step in the right direction, they alone will not end the disinformation that seems to thrive on Twitter. 

What's more, Twitter's policies are just that: policies. The company could, at any time, roll these changes back. And that's a problem. Preventing a repeat of the still not fully understood 2016 Russian misinformation campaign is going to require both a better combating of troll farms and some form of ad regulation — which is, not coincidentally, currently under consideration in Congress under the name of the Honest Ads Act.  Read more...