A Russian senator yesterday recommended Russian companies not to advertise on Twitter.
The Federation Council's recommendation comes in response to Twitter’s decision last week to ban two Russian media outlets, RT and Sputnik, from advertising on the site.
“As a mirror response to the discriminatory actions of U.S. authorities against Russian media, we recommend that Russian companies refrain from advertising on Twitter," the head of the Commission for the Protection of State Sovereignty, Oleg Morozov, was cited by the Interfax news agency as saying at yesterday’s meeting.
The Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, will also summarize proposals submitted by the Ministry of Justice, Roskomnadzor and the Prosecutor General’s office on a symmetrical response to the restrictions of Russian media, the RBC business portal reported.
“We summarize their proposals and also prepare legislative initiatives,” said Senator Lyudmila Bokova.
When announcing the decision last week, Twitter cited its own “retrospective work” 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.”
After Twitter’s move, RT published an opinion piece on its site, in which it claimed, “RT has never been involved in any illegal activity online, and that it never pursued an agenda of influencing the U.S. election through any platforms, including Twitter.”
Wednesday’s Council Commission was devoted to determining a reasonable response.
After the meeting, Morozov told journalists that the move could result in the loss of millions of dollars. "It will be sensitive for Russian Twitter,” he said.
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