Twitter on Friday revealed that nearly 2,000 ads were placed on the messaging service in 2016 by a Russian media group suspected of trying to interfere with the US Presidential election.
A Twitter statement said the social media company shared data with congressional investigators about ads from RT, a television group with links to the Moscow government.
Twitter said RT spent $2,74,000 in 2016 on Twitter ads that may have been used to try to influence the US election.
The news comes after Facebook acknowledged foreign entities linked to Russia paid to promote political messages on the leading social network, potentially violating US election laws.
A blog post by Twitter said its vice-president for public policy, Colin Crowell, met with staff on Thursday from two congressional panels investigating Russian interference in the election process.
Twitter said it examined efforts by foreign agents to interfere with the election after Facebook indicated it found 450 accounts that appeared to have been used for this purpose.
“Of the roughly 450 accounts that Facebook recently shared as a part of their review, we concluded that 22 had corresponding accounts on Twitter,” the company said in a statement. The statement said RT, which was named in January in a US intelligence report on election interference, spent at least $2,74,100 in 2016 for 1,823 tweet ads or “promotions” that “definitely or potentially targeted the US market.”
