Twitter Bans RT and Sputnik Ads Following Election Meddling

[Exterminator]

Twitter has decided to ban Russian-Linked media companies Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik from buying ads on its platform, blaming their alleged interference in the US election.

The social media giant said it would “off-board” advertising from all accounts owned by the two companies, heavily linked to the Russian government.

It explained:

“This decision was based on the retrospective work we've been doing around the 2016 US election and the US intelligence community’s conclusion that both RT and Sputnik attempted to interfere with the election on behalf of the Russian government. We did not come to this decision lightly, and are taking this step now as part of our ongoing commitment to help protect the integrity of the user experience on Twitter.”

Twitter references a US government report from January which claims both outlets are part of “Russia’s state-run propaganda machine”.

“State-owned Russian media made increasingly favorable comments about President-elect Trump as the 2016 US general and primary election campaigns progressed while consistently offering negative coverage of Secretary Clinton,” it notes.

Twitter says it will take the $1.9m projected to have been earned from RT advertising since 2011 and donate it “to support external research into the use of Twitter in civic engagement and elections, including use of malicious automation and misinformation, with an initial focus on elections and automation.”

The news has been welcomed by Senators Mark Warner and Amy Klobuchar, who have proposed an Honest Ads Bill designed to force greater transparency in political advertising.

That comes following a closed door briefing to the Senate earlier this month described as “deeply disappointing” and “inadequate” by Warner.

However, the Russian outlets will still be free to use their influence to tweet organically. An arguably bigger problem is that of bot-driven profiles which can elevate specific stories or fake news to trending topics, and then be dismantled before an investigation can begin.

Google, Facebook and Twitter have all been asked to appear before a public Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on November 1.

The news comes as the World Economic Forum called on Silicon Valley social media firms to do more to halt the spread of extremism and state-backed propaganda.

 

[Peter Kendrick]

Good decision in my opinion. Russia was found influencing the elections last time result was in the form of Trump.