Twitter did not tell members of the Senate Intelligence Committee it approached RT, a Russian state-funded media outlet, with a proposal to purchase ads on the platform during the 2016 campaign.
A spokesperson for Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the committee, confirmed Thursday that Twitter never mentioned it pitched RT, formerly known as Russia Today, about an ad campaign when it spoke with members at a closed-door briefing last month.
Earlier in the day, Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief, said Twitter presented the outlet with a proposal that encouraged RT to buy ads during the 2016 election.
“Hope @jack won’t forget to tell @congressdotgov how @Twitter pitched @RT_com to spend big $$s on US elex ad campaign,” Simonyan tweeted, tagging Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
Hope @jack won’t forget to tell @congressdotgov how @Twitter pitched @RT_com to spend big $$s on US elex ad campaign. pic.twitter.com/7GqoEoSaY8
— Маргарита Симоньян (@M_Simonyan) October 26, 2017
Included in the tweet was a copy of what appears to be the title page of the proposal titled “U.S. Elections Proposal for @RT_com.”
“A reminder @RT_com is an exemplary @Twitter partner-could share their US elex pitch deck if interested. Incl… ‘Deliver an unbiased point view of the U.S. Elections with an edge utilizing the powerful technology of Twitter in real-time.’ Curious,” Simonyan said in subsequent tweets.
A reminder @RT_com is an exemplary @Twitter partner – could share their US elex pitch deck if interested. Incl…(1/2) pic.twitter.com/8axt9gZhPz
— Маргарита Симоньян (@M_Simonyan) October 26, 2017
“Deliver an unbiased point view of the US Elections with an edge utilizing the powerful technology of Twitter in real-time”. Curious…(2/2) pic.twitter.com/V2VjSH70er
— Маргарита Симоньян (@M_Simonyan) October 26, 2017
A Twitter spokesperson said the company “does not have any comment on our private conversations with any advertiser, even a former advertiser.”
Simonyan’s allegations that Twitter pitched RT about buying ads during the 2016 election followed an announcement Thursday morning that the company would no longer run ads from accounts owned by RT and Sputnik, another Russian media outlet.
“This decision was based on the retrospective work we’ve been doing around the 2016 U.S. election and the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that both RT and Sputnik attempted to interfere with the election on behalf of the Russian government,” Twitter said in a blog post.
Lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee have been examining how platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google were used as part of Russia’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 election.
General counsels from each of the three companies are scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Nov. 1 about the roles they played.
