RTThu, 26 Oct 2017 17:34 UTC
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Twitter has banned ads from RT and Sputnik over alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.
RT's editor-in-chief says the move will spark retaliation from Moscow, and has revealed that Twitter pushed RT to spend ad money during the presidential campaign.The social network says it will give away money already earned from the two companies.
"Early this year, the US 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 California-based company said in a statement on its blog.
"Twitter has made the policy decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, effective immediately," Twitter said.
Before it publicized its decision, Twitter sent a letter directly to RT, in which it explained the move in terms of making sure that "people feel safe" when they use the microblogging site.
"At Twitter we believe in freedom of expression and in speaking truth to power. We also want to ensure that people feel safe when they interact with our site, and that advertisers bring value to our users," it wrote.
The ban comes a week before Twitter management is due to testify to a US House committee over its role in supposed Russian meddling in last year's elections. Staff from the company will appear alongside Facebook and Google employees.RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan commented on Twitter's decision, saying it was "highly regrettable" and could serve as a precursor to retaliatory measures towards US media.
"I never thought that Twitter is under the control of the US security services - it seemed like a conspiracy theory. But now Twitter appears to have admitted it," Simonyan told RIA Novosti news agency. "This is highly regrettable. It is particularly regrettable that now US media operating in Russia will feel the tender response of the Russian authorities."
Simonyan earlier posted the social network's own pitch for an RT advertising campaign ahead of last year's election, in which Twitter said that the news site would provide an "unbiased point view of the US Elections with an edge."
"Hope Jack Dorsey [Twitter CEO] won't forget to tell Congress how Twitter pitched RT to spend big $$s on US election ad campaign," tweeted Simonyan.RT turned down Twitter's advertising pitch, which proposed potentially investing millions of dollars. In fact, it spent only $274,100 on all US Twitter ads in 2016 - not just during the election campaign - and has further cut the ad budget on the site this year.
The Russian Foreign Ministry later confirmed that Moscow would take countermeasures in response to what it called a "violation of freedom of speech."
"We consider this an aggressive step that intends to suppress the work of Russian channel RT, which has come about as a result of pressure from the US establishment and security services. Retaliatory measures will naturally follow," said ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova in a statement."We emphasize that preventing Russian media from doing their job, including with the help of security services, is a testament to a crude violation by the United States of international and internal laws that guarantee the freedom of speech."
Comment: In an op-ed, RT deputy editor-in-chief Kirill Karnovich-Valua
reveals the details of Twitter's suggested advertising campaign for RT:
The RT and Twitter teams held a number of direct negotiations, during which we brainstormed potential media strategy ahead of American elections in 2016. The first meeting dates back to as early as April 2016, and involved senior marketing and news partnerships managers from Twitter.
The main idea pitched by Twitter to RT was "to take a stand." The more money RT spent, the bigger the reach to American voters that Twitter would provide. At the meeting, the RT team was shown an in-depth presentation giving background into Twitter's advantages as a platform of choice for the election.
The custom presentation provided an insight into just how big a conversation Twitter was expecting on its platform around the much-anticipated US vote. Among the shared data, the RT team was presented statistics on how Twitter users were reacting to each of three main contenders at the time - Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
So, clearly RT was a valued customer for Twitter just last year, and RT hasn't changed any of its journalistic style since then. This is just about Twitter showing very clearly to anyone paying attention that they aren't actually a private company but merely a tool of propaganda for the elites. People on social media are
justifiably blasting Twitter for its "classic corporate cowardice" and its attack on free speech and freedom of expression:
Update 10/27: It appears that
Twitter never "informed" the US government that it pushed RT to purchase a large ad campaign from Twitter before the 2016 election. That should make it interesting when Twitter execs sit down in front of Congress next week. There might be some pointed questions!
The reaction to Twitter's decision has led some observers to point out that its a part of a
continuous attack on free speech. Former US diplomat Jim Jatras tells RT:
"It is not even so much RT but what does this say about what the American government, the American agencies and now these social media companies are willing to do to compromise information coming to the American people?"
Mark Almond, director of the Crisis Research Institute at Oxford points out how the need to control information reveals how little trust the government has in the people that elected them and their ability to think for themselves:
"Those politicians in the Congress who have the social media platforms like Twitter and Google and Facebook a little bit in fear of them... are actually also damaging their own political standing because essentially they are saying to the American voter that you're so gullible and foolish that a tiny amount of money targeted in some way can control your minds and turn your votes."
The Kremlin has
responded by saying the ban is motivated by a "deep prejudice" against Russian media. It's hard to argue with them on that point. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the move as a result of pressure from US establishment and security services, while another Russian official, Konstantin Kosachev,
deleted his Twitter account in protest and said the company had become "highly politicized." Meanwhile, RT has
released Twitter's presentation and offer in full.
Comment: In an op-ed, RT deputy editor-in-chief Kirill Karnovich-Valua reveals the details of Twitter's suggested advertising campaign for RT: So, clearly RT was a valued customer for Twitter just last year, and RT hasn't changed any of its journalistic style since then. This is just about Twitter showing very clearly to anyone paying attention that they aren't actually a private company but merely a tool of propaganda for the elites. People on social media are justifiably blasting Twitter for its "classic corporate cowardice" and its attack on free speech and freedom of expression:
Update 10/27: It appears that Twitter never "informed" the US government that it pushed RT to purchase a large ad campaign from Twitter before the 2016 election. That should make it interesting when Twitter execs sit down in front of Congress next week. There might be some pointed questions!
The reaction to Twitter's decision has led some observers to point out that its a part of a continuous attack on free speech. Former US diplomat Jim Jatras tells RT: Mark Almond, director of the Crisis Research Institute at Oxford points out how the need to control information reveals how little trust the government has in the people that elected them and their ability to think for themselves: The Kremlin has responded by saying the ban is motivated by a "deep prejudice" against Russian media. It's hard to argue with them on that point. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the move as a result of pressure from US establishment and security services, while another Russian official, Konstantin Kosachev, deleted his Twitter account in protest and said the company had become "highly politicized." Meanwhile, RT has released Twitter's presentation and offer in full.