The social network Twitter has closed 201 accounts that were linked to the same Russian operators who posted thousands of political ads on Facebook, according to the technology giant.
Collin Crowell, vice president of the company for public policy, presented this information to Congress in camera today in the context of investigations carried out by various committees of the Legislative to elucidate the degree of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.
“Of the approximately 450 accounts that Facebook recently shared as part of its review, we concluded that 22 had corresponding accounts on Twitter.
All those accounts identified had already been immediately suspended from Twitter for violating our rules and most for violating our prohibitions against spam, “Twitter said on its official blog today.
“In addition, from these accounts we find 179 other accounts related or linked, and we take measures in which we find violation of our rules.”
“Neither the original accounts shared by Facebook, nor the additional related accounts we identified, registered as advertisers on Twitter, however, we will continue to investigate these issues and take action on anything that violates our terms of service.”
The company also found that three accounts of the Russia Today medium, with strong ties to the Kremlin, spent a total of $ 274,100 on ads on its platform that year.
The meeting between the company and congressional researchers is part of a survey of how Russian operators used Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social networks to sow division and misinformation during the race to the White House.
These US companies are increasingly lobbying Congress to investigate Russia’s intrusion into their platforms, and are facing the possibility of new regulations that could affect their mass-advertising business.
Last week, Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner urged their colleagues to support a bill that would create new transparency requirements for social networks that post political announcements, similar to those already in place for television.
Legislators across the political spectrum have called for more scrutiny in the market power of technology companies in recent months.
