Russian trolls had Twitter accounts

It’s the same group responsible for fake pages on Facebook

Same group also responsible for fake pages on Facebook

Twitter says it found some 200 accounts linked to the same Russian groups that bought $100,000 worth of ads on Facebook to sow political unrest and manipulate U.S. voters during the presidential election.

The Twitter accounts, which were taken down over the last month, were linked to 470 accounts and pages that Facebook traced to the International Research Agency, an entity known as a troll farm that unleashes fake social media accounts to stir controversy and conflict.

According to a blog post released by Twitter on Thursday after briefing staffers on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, the groups on Facebook had 22 Twitter accounts. Twitter found an additional 179 accounts connected to those 22.

Twitter also shared information on Russian news outlet Russia Today, or RT, which has ties to the Kremlin, according to U.S. intelligence agencies.

Three RT accounts spent $274,100 targeting U.S. markets with ads in 2016, according to Twitter.

The San Francisco company, which has been accused of not doing enough to police fake accounts, pledged Thursday to step up enforcement.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel, blasted Twitter after Thursday’s briefing, telling reporters that the company’s presentation was “inadequate on almost every level” and showed “an enormous lack of understanding ... of how serious this issue is (and) the threat it poses to democratic institutions.”

Twitter declined to comment on Warner’s remarks.