Trump's campaign is upset Twitter banned political ads. So, oddly, is Russian state media.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's announcement Wednesday that Twitter will stop accepting political advertising starting Nov. 22 was not greeted warmly by President Trump's campaign, which apparently believes banning all political ads will "silence Trump and conservatives."

The Democratic presidential candidates vying to unseat Trump, on the other hand, largely praised the decision — even though, as National Republican Senatorial Committee senior adviser Matt Whitlock noted (on Twitter, naturally), Democrats "do significantly more advertising on Twitter than we do." The Democrats said Facebook should follow suit.

U.S. political campaigns expressing interest in a major social media platform's political advertising policy makes sense. Less clear is why Russian state media cares.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Why on earth would RT, Russia's propaganda outlet (which has been designated as a foreign agent by our own DOJ), find Twitter's ban on political ads in the U.S. to be 'URGENT'?" asked Asha Rangappa, a former FBI agent and CNN analyst.

Maybe it's Dorsey's inclusion of the phrase "democratic infrastructure"? Peter Weber