Twitter bans advertising from two Russian firms

Twitter is banning advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today and Sputnik, effective immediately, after U.S. investigators concluded the Russian media companies attempted to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

It’s one of the biggest changes made yet by social media firms who have been called to respond to the government’s concerns. Twitter has said that RT, a TV network funded by the Russian government, spent $274,100 in U.S. ads in 2016.

“This decision was based on the retrospective work we’ve been doing around the 2016 U.S. election,” Twitter said in a blog post Thursday. “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 it’s taking the $1.9 million it estimated it earned from RT global advertising since it joined as an advertiser in 2011 and donating it to funds that support external research into the use of Twitter in civic engagement and elections.

RT reacted with a blog post of its own, claiming that Twitter pushed the network for “a large ad buy” for the election, but the channel declined the offer. Twitter declined to comment on the exchange.

A person familiar with the matter said it’s the job of any ad sales team to aggressively recruit and retain clients, and sometimes they use strong language in order to do so.

Mortgage rate up

The costs of borrowing to buy a home increased slightly this week, but U.S. mortgage rates are still near relative lows.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 3.94 percent from 3.88 percent last week.

At this time last year, the benchmark rate was 3.47 percent. The historic average was roughly 6 percent.

Long-term home loan rates tend to track the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes. The interest charged on 10-year Treasury notes has risen since early September, possibly in anticipation of tax cuts pushed by President Donald Trump that could cause the amount of government debt to climb.