Twitter Bans Russian Media Ads, Lets Accounts Remain Active

Twitter has banned Russian media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik from placing ads on the platform and is removing all advertising from those accounts, although the accounts are being allowed to remain active. 

Twitter announced Thursday it was removing the ads after reporting in September that three accounts connected to Russia Today targeted the U.S. Twitter market prior to the 2016 presidential election.

The accounts will be allowed to remain active but not to place ads or promote tweets.

Twitter said it would donate the $1.9 million it received in ad revenue to research efforts that investigate the use of Twitter to influence elections and increase civil engagement.

"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," Twitter said in a blog post Thursday. "This decision is restricted to these two entities based our internal investigation of their behavior as well as their inclusion in the January 2017 DNI report. This decision does not apply to any other advertisers. RT and Sputnik may remain organic users on our platform, in accordance with the Twitter Rules."

The Sun reported earlier this month that Twitter may have permanently deleted ads and tweets needed in the probe of whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election directly, which could impede the investigation into how much influence Russia ultimately wielded over the election.

"There remains no evidence that the Russians altered one vote or changed one registration," President of the U.S. National Association of State Election Directors Judd Choate said, The Sun reported. 

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