Twitter bans ads from 2 Russian news outlets

Kremlin-backed firms barred on social media site

Twitter announced on Thursday that it will ban RT and Sputnik, the two Kremlin-backed international news outlets, from advertising on its platform, intensifying the battle over Russian propaganda on social media and prompting an immediate threat of retaliation from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The decision marks one of the most aggressive moves by an American social media company against the outlets, which U.S. intelligence officials have linked to a wide-ranging Kremlin effort, both covert and overt, to disrupt the 2016 presidential election. Twitter’s ban comes as U.S. authorities are pressuring RT, formerly known as Russia Today, to register as a foreign agent under a World War II-era law intended to curtail Nazi propaganda.

“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,” the company said in a blog post announcing the ban. The ban will not apply to any other advertisers, Twitter said, and RT and Sputnik will be allowed to retain their own Twitter accounts and followers.

RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, called Twitter’s decision “highly regrettable” and cast it as part of a punitive campaign by the U.S. government against her country. The Russian government, which in recent days has warned that it will respond in kind to American pressure on RT, responded even more forcefully. In a statement posted on Facebook, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called Twitter’s decision “yet another aggressive step” and blamed the influence of U.S. intelligence officials. “Naturally, a response will follow,” Zakharova said.

Lawmakers who have been pressuring Twitter to address Russian entities’ use of the platform to influence American politics praised the company’s decision on Thursday — but cautioned that it would not be enough.

“I appreciate the effort, although RT and Sputnik have been known entities for some time,” said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who has emerged as one of Twitter’s most vocal critics on Capitol Hill. “What I hope is we’ll see enhanced efforts on discovering other fake accounts as well as avatars that might not be as obvious.”