Twitter briefly banned the venerated magazine “The Nation” from using its ad platform

The Nation is an old beloved weekly publication known for its progressivism. It’s not known for disseminating hate and violence. And yet, for some reason, Twitter decided to ban the magazine from using its ad platform because its content supposedly included “hate, sensitive topics, and violence.”

Editor Annie Shields tweeted a screenshot of Twitter’s decision–which essentially meant that The Nation was prohibited from advertising on the social media platform. (To add insult to injury, Shields says that the link to Twitter’s ad policy page is broken.)

Glad to see @Twitter is continuing to crackdown on harassment and abuse by banning @thenation from Twitter Ads for “Hate, sensitive topics, and violence” pic.twitter.com/aOAFAUEyEm

— Annie Shields (@anastasiakeeley) March 20, 2018

Sources tell me this was a mistake on Twitter’s end and that The Nation‘s account has already been re-approved to advertise. I also hear that the link to the company’s ad policy is back up and running, too.

Shields tells me over email that this was The Nation‘s first attempt to use the ad platform. When she tried to set it up, “we were already blocked.” She has no idea what triggered the ban, but she confirms that Twitter has now approved the magazine’s account following her tweet.

I guess we can expect Harper’s to be the next publication to get an accidental ad platform ban.

This post has been updated.