Twitter no longer allows RT and Sputnik to advertise because of influencing elections

Twitter no longer accepts ads from Russia Today and Sputnik because the media allegedly tried to influence the US election in 2016. The money that Twitter earned from the ads will go towards research into the influence of the service on elections.

The move to refuse ads from all accounts around Russia Today and Sputnik is effective immediately, reports Twitter. They are the only two parties to whom the measure applies. The Twitter accounts may remain active. Twitter came to the conclusion after its own investigation into possible influence via Twitter of the American presidential elections of 2016. In addition, the service refers to the conclusions of the American intelligence services about the involvement of RT and Sputnik in Russian propaganda.

According to Twitter, RT spent $274,100 in the US in 2016 to promote 1,823 tweets. The media service has been advertising on Twitter since 2011, for a total amount of $1.9 million. Twitter will invest this amount in research into the use of Twitter during elections, including for the automated or non-automated distribution of incorrect information.

Twitter announced the move on the day it released its quarterly results. The number of users using the microblogging service daily increased by 14 percent compared to the same quarter last year. The number of monthly users increased by 4 percent to 330 million. Four million monthly users were added in the past quarter, of which three million international and one million in the US. Quarterly sales fell 4% to $590 million from last year. The loss was $21 million.