--- title: Twitter Finds 200 Accounts Linked to Russian Agents description: Twitter has found 201 accounts that were tied to the Russian-linked sources that purchased thousands of ads on Facebook in 2016 canonical: https://time.com/4961882/twitter-russia-linked-accounts-2016-election/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-28T21:12:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:54.163Z article:section: Politics og:title: Twitter Found 201 Accounts Linked to Russian Agents Who Bought Facebook Ads og:description: It also found RT spent more than $200,000 on ads during 2016 og:url: https://time.com/4961882/twitter-russia-linked-accounts-2016-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19eecfda1d853edd/6988dfe14ee262470030f338/twitter-russian-bots-advertisements-donald-trump-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2835 og:image:height: 1595 og:image:alt: Twitter suspends thousands of accounts for pro-terrorism and violence contents og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Twitter Found 201 Accounts Linked to Russian Agents Who Bought Facebook Ads twitter:description: It also found RT spent more than $200,000 on ads during 2016 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19eecfda1d853edd/6988dfe14ee262470030f338/twitter-russian-bots-advertisements-donald-trump-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Twitter Found 201 Accounts Linked to Russian Agents Who Bought Facebook Ads > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3b2f03b9-e4bd-45c0-b1f7-7892b65219e3&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Facebook says it will provide suspected Russian-linked election ads to Congress [Watch (HLS stream): Facebook says it will provide suspected Russian-linked election ads to Congress](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/T8jtUqoS.m3u8) (0:47)  _Published 2017-09-21. Facebook says it will provide suspected Russian-linked election ads to Congress_ by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 28, 2017 9:12 PM UTC  A man holding a cellphone in front of a twitter logo in Ankara, Turkey on March 16, 2017. A man holding a cellphone in front of a twitter logo in Ankara, Turkey on March 16, 2017. Gokhan Balci—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 28, 2017 9:12 PM UTC Twitter has found 201 accounts that were tied to the Russian-linked sources that purchased [thousands of ads on Facebook](http://time.com/4930532/facebook-russian-accounts-2016-election/) during the 2016 presidential election, the [company said](https://blog.twitter.com/official/en%5Fus/topics/company/2017/Update-Russian-Interference-in-2016--Election-Bots-and-Misinformation.html) on Thursday. The social media platform also found that Russian news site RT, which has close ties to the Kremlin, spent $274,000 on U.S. ads in 2016. Twitter executives told Congressional investigators about the findings on Thursday and posted details in a [blog](https://blog.twitter.com/official/en%5Fus/topics/company/2017/Update-Russian-Interference-in-2016--Election-Bots-and-Misinformation.html) on the company’s website. The news follows similar [disclosures from Facebook](http://time.com/4952391/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-russia-meddling-congress/?iid=sr-link2) earlier this month, and Twitter’s meeting in Washington comes as Congress is pursuing its investigation into how Russians may have used social media platforms to interfere in the 2016 election cycle. The company said its Vice President for Public Policy Colin Crowell met with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Thursday. When Facebook found that about 470 accounts with Russian ties purchased advertisements, Twitter checked its own users and found that 22 Twitter accounts matched those. Those accounts had ties to 179 other Twitter handles. Twitter suspended all accounts it found in violation of its rules, the company said. The Russian-linked accounts were not registered as advertisers, Twitter said, but it promised to continue investigating the situation. The company outlined ways it plans to continue fighting bots on its site, and said its current systems catch more than 3.2 million suspicious accounts around the world each week. Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook have faced increased scrutiny around how they handle bots and the potential that their platforms were used to sow disruption during 2016\. Many have said these companies have taken a lax approach to dealing with spam and abuse on their platforms. After Twitter’s meeting with Congressional officials on Thursday, Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told reporters he was “[disappointed](https://twitter.com/mikememoli/status/913495628533108736)” by the briefing Twitter provided. “Their response was, frankly, inadequate on almost every level,” Warner said, according to[ Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-warner/twitter-briefing-to-u-s-congressional-investigators-disappointing-senator-warner-idUSKCN1C3358). ## Transcript [00:00] We are actively working with the US government on its [00:03] ongoing investigations into Russian interference. We've [00:06] been investigating this for many months now, and for a [00:08] while, we had found no evidence of fake accounts [00:11] linked to Russia running ads. When we recently [00:15] uncovered this activity, we provided that information to [00:17] the special counsel. We also briefed Congress. And this [00:21] morning, I directed our team to provide the ads we've [00:24] found to Congress as well. Now as a general rule, [00:27] we're gonna be limited in what we can discuss [00:29] publically about ongoing law enforcement [00:32] investigations. So we may not always be able to share [00:35] All of our findings publicly. But we support Congress in [00:38] deciding how to best use this information to inform the [00:41] public. 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