Russia Today, the Russian state news outlet that sought to interfere in the 2016 presidential election by way of social media according to the U.S. intelligence community, on Friday revealed Twitter’s multi-million-dollar election advertising sales pitch.
RT, which said it didn't take the pitch, published the proposal one day after Twitter announced it had banned RT and Sputnik from placing ads on its platform. The social media giant also said it was removing all advertising from those accounts.
RT also denied Twitter's report "implying that RT was trying to influence US public opinion, crucially without providing context that virtually all news media organizations spend money on advertising their news coverage."
Twitter, which is working with U.S. lawmakers as they continue to investigate meddling in the election, in a blog post said it was banning ads "as part of our ongoing commitment to help protect the integrity of the user experience on Twitter."
"Early this year, the U.S. intelligence community named RT and Sputnik as implementing state-sponsored Russian efforts to interfere with and disrupt the 2016 Presidential election, which is not something we want on Twitter," the post continued.
Twitter, Facebook and Google are under intense scrutiny by the U.S. government for allowing foreign groups to buy political ads targeting U.S. voters and will all testify before Congress about the role the companies played in Russia’s attempt to influence the election on Nov. 1.
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