The Russian government-backed broadcaster RT attempted to commandeer two Twitter accounts to boost coverage of the 2016 election.
RT contacted Twitter’s advertising department in 2016 and said it wanted to take ownership of two Twitter accounts, @NotHillary and @NotTrump, to increase their coverage of the 2016 election. Twitter did not permit them ownership of the accounts, which had not been active during the 2016 election.
Twitter allows companies to assume control of former accounts if they have been inactive long enough. However, Twitter did not approve RT’s request because it was a violation of Twitter’s advertising policies, according to Foreign Policy.
RT said that it wanted to take ownership of the Twitter handles to engage more with opponents of the presidential candidates.
“Trump and Clinton both were entering the election with some of the highest ‘unfavorable’ ratings for presumptive nominees,” RT’s head of communications, Anna Belkina, told Foreign Policy.
“RT wanted to explore this subject deeper by engaging into a conversation with the people who were neither in favor of Clinton, nor in favor of Trump, which is the opposite of ‘expressing a clear preference’ for either candidate,” she added. “As part of this idea, we were considering ways how to adapt it to Twitter, however, we discontinued the concept and did not pursue handle ownership.”
Twitter representatives will meet with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee next Wednesday to discuss Russia’s interference with the 2016 election.
