Twitter Bans Ads From Russian Media Outlets RT And Sputnik Over ‘Election Interference’

Twitter has banned two Russian media giants - Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik - from advertising on the micro-blogging site, citing allegations by United States intelligence agencies that the two tried to interfere with the 2016 presidential election in the country using deceptive ads on social media.

"Twitter has made the policy decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today and Sputnik, effective immediately," company’s co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey said on Thursday.

According to the website, the decision was following its own investigations of RT and Sputnik advertising patterns. The company also examined "US intelligence community's conclusion that both RT and Sputnik attempted to interfere with the election on behalf of the Russian government”.

"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." read the the statement published on the social media platform's blog.

According to The Guardian, Russia’s foreign ministry has vowed to retaliate, saying that the move flouted international and domestic laws on free speech.

The move comes just days before Twitter will testify on Russian election meddling along with officials from Google and Facebook.