IMO the difference is a combination of two things:
* the unprecedented targeting ability of social media ads vs traditional broadcast/print
* the unprecedented amount of disinformation (especially from foreign governments) vs traditional broadcast/print
If you can't see the difference between the two, frankly, you haven't been paying attention.
Foreign govt can also pay for political ads via TV/print as well. Most of the foreign govt interference is not via ads but via organic channels such as FB Pages, FB user accounts, Twitter accounts/bots. Those will continue to operate regardless of this decision by Twitter
* the unprecedented targeting ability of social media ads vs traditional broadcast/print * the unprecedented amount of disinformation (especially from foreign governments) vs traditional broadcast/print
If you can't see the difference between the two, frankly, you haven't been paying attention.