Twitter will ban Russia Today and Sputnik, the two Kremlin-backed international news outlets, from advertising on its platform, a company official said on Friday.

The decision marks one of the most aggressive moves by an American social media company against the Russian outlets, which US intelligence officials have linked to a wide-ranging Kremlin effort, both covert and overt, to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.

Twitter's ban comes as US authorities are pressuring Russia Today to register as a foreign agent under a World War II-era law intended to stop Nazi propaganda.

"We did not come to this decision lightly, and are taking this step now as part of our ongoing commitment to help protect the integrity of the user experience on Twitter," Twitter said in a blog post announcing the ban.

The ban will not apply to any other advertisers, Twitter said. Russia Today and Sputnik will be allowed to retain their Twitter accounts.

Twitter said it had earned $1.9 million in advertising revenue from Russia Today since 2011. The company said it would now donate the money to research into the civic impact of Twitter, as well as its abuse by purveyors of fake news and propaganda.

Last week, the UK Parliament asked Facebook, Twitter and other internet companies for information about Russian efforts to use social media to influence the British vote to leave the European Union, expanding on several parallel US congressional investigations around the election of President Donald Trump.

The British inquiry adds to the mounting pressure for more disclosure from the internet giants, which have already acknowledged broad Russian efforts to influence national elections in both the United States and France.

New York Times