party america is this. we are apparently better than. the sea people you've never heard of love jack to the next president of the world bank very. seriously send us an e-mail. breaking news this hour twitter says it has blocked advertising by all accounts owned by this channel the move comes as twitter included are feeling its report to congress on the lead russian meddling despite earlier offering this channel a pricey advertising campaign during the us elections also to come. i. got a loan his future is in the balance thousands gather in barcelona calling for the regional government come up with a concrete answer on what is next and the u.s. will really classified files into president kennedy's assassination after a fifty year deadline passes lifting the lid on one of the country's darkest

stepaside so. i welcome you with r.t. and we start this hour with breaking news tonight because twitter has blocked all of thirty minutes from accounts on this from this channel to discuss this further when i joined by artie's daniel daniel just fill it in then what exactly has been said by twitter well and to the latest news that we have as you said better as twitter is issued a statement blocking all advertising on the platform from r.t. accounts they begin their statement actually quite honestly saying that twitter we believe in freedom of expression and in speaking truth to power they also want to ensure that people feel safe when they interact with the site i've always bring value to our users they then go on to give a list of all the twitter accounts but i'll try. the ties in and that includes our

t. america r t dot com or international twitter platform as well as our two russian german arabic fronts for french r.t. u.k. news effectively all of our bureaus worldwide they will no longer be able to advertise on twitter although they do also say this isn't a decision they've taken lightly they justify this decision according to this statement they've made because of artes inclusion in that january twenty seventh d.n.i. report on those allegations of russian meddling in the us election now it's interesting that this is happening now because obviously on the first of november twitter representatives are due to give testimony in congress based on those accusations of election interference and this comes of course in the wider context if you remember back in the end of september twitter issued a report i believe it was called election interference bots and misinformation which mention r.t. as one of those factors which affected the middle in the u.s. election in that report they also released confidential data related to how much

money spent on twitter social media platform advertising that figure came to about two hundred seventy thousand dollars last year across all all our bureaus all our twitter account. now this comes to go of course in the wider context of the pressure our two years come under in the united states the registration under the under fire etc which are a difference you've commented on just very recently let's take a listen back to what you had to say though and you've done your reinventing recently new active measures except those targeting your reputation has been taken against us in the us. new around us have we ever experienced the kind of pressure that we experienced today in the u.s. to the point eventually being forced out of the country. now to give a bit of background to r.t. has taken the decision as a result of these allegations by twitter very thinly veiled allegations of some

sort of misconduct or wrongdoing and subsequently indeed this latest action just come about the last fifteen twenty minutes or so to release some details of negotiations that actually did occur between r.t. and the twitter social media platform in the run up to the u.s. election twitter offered r t a exclusive customized package especially for the us election which would include many special features such as special in movies you have tags analysis and research media marketing they said that this would give r.t. access to a much wider audience the support its message to many more people to give them a much bigger hold on the social media market now after these negotiations took place r.t. actually rejected this offer due to the very hefty price tag they said this went above all the social media budgets they had for that year subsequently actually another interesting fact reduced its twitter marketing budget this year and twenty seventeen compared to last year because of the unsatisfactory results so to

summarize it andrew effectively twitter offered r.t. this very exclusive special package for the election with the aim of giving us a wider us audience reach subsequently we've turned that down subsequently were accused of. well somehow using misconduct and wrongdoing and go violating terms of service which has in turn led now to the blocking of these advertising campaigns now our editor in chief has recently put a post on twitter regarding this appearance in congress but it was representative saying that she does hope that this is something they will mention in their version of events that they were actually offering us to have this tailor made them package which we turned out subsequently this report was released and now we have this blocking so it's very much a story that is multi-layered that is ongoing and really who knows where the next turn will take we have asked for comment from twitter with regards to that story and we're still waiting for them to get back to us on that will keep your base obviously as to what happened then and sure it is complicated but thanks for

breaking it down for us that was daniel hawkins thank you. well meanwhile british lawmakers have revived attempts to find any trace of russian interference in the outcome of last year's brics it referendum on the situ has more on that. well the anti russia hype continues now here in the u.k. following the brave but quite futile example of this we've seen in the us of trying to implicate russia in election results that were seen as a unfavorable now we do know that here in london a committee within the house of commons had sent a letter to the c.e.o. of facebook mark zuckerberg asking him to provide details on russian ads linked to not just the bracks it referendum but also the last u.k. general election now this is part of an investigation being carried out by this committee and inquiry on feek news trying to determine whether or not foreign actors are getting involved by using online platforms to interfere in elections now

the russian ambassador to the you can exonerate prevent go so he was surprised to see this kind of reaction from the u.k. given that the brits at referendum was called of course by the previous conservative government he's asked a question of it's not clear who the british government is if russia is able to influence these kinds of things now this comes just days ago we saw a labor m.p. within the british parliament also say that it's important to enquire into any participation by russia in terms of interfering in western democracies and really all of this is seen as a sort of repetition of this having been carried out on a also quite wide scale in the us facebook had said that russia linked accounts had bought one hundred thousand dollars worth of ads but obviously this was seen as largely seen as very little proof of anything given the multi-million dollar of budgets when it comes to the election campaigns in the us so really all of this

despite block of any tangible proof really showing us that the show must go on considering russia has become everyone's favorite bad boy it seems. like hey we can speak now without. oh he's the russian ambassador to the u.k. so it will be very interesting to hear what he's got to say about all of this good evening t. thanks very much for your time coming on to r.t. this evening what do you make then of these latest attempts to try and tie russia to the referendum and also the latest general election in the u k. now be happy to see the outcome of this investigation because give me half a minute to say a little bit a few words about the history for quite a number of years the u.k. was divided whether to stay in european union or to leave and the interest of the fifteen the former prime minister of this country mr cameron. decided

to put this question to referendum heaslip promised to do this and later on he did it so basically that was the privilege of former prime minister cameron to decide what he's going to do with this proposal so as soon as he would he decided to do this he discussed this question would be within the conservative party and then that was one of the key let's see the poor in so his election campaign and once there was a decision to make this referendum for braggs it it was done and the country is still divided because half of the country is for folks who brags it of the country is is posing this i'll tell you even the government is this divided and the parliament is divided so in them this is the circumstances some newspapers and even

the officials there saying that someone were another russia. meddled this decision of the british people but for me it doesn't look quite convincing its troops have been funny because in this case definitely it looks like the outright insulting for both the british government and the british people that was their decision and of course the perspective of the bread's it for them is not so easy because difficult negotiations with the european union. uncertainty and this is probably the most difficult. think about the brags that because people don't know what will happen with the business whether it's the business will stay in london and some other parts of the country or will leave what will be the conditions you know best deal or maybe not the best deal heart or soul of bragg's and all this cool questions are open so in this situation you know i there is

a temptation to say that. russia did something that will be the decision of the british people but you know who to ask to on the which side that's a good question because a couple of the countries that way out of the country the other way the same as with the with the with the snap elections in the in the in the u.k. that was decision of misses me so the people who are sick and by the way it wasn't let's say most of the government didn't know about that and that was are probably unilateral decision and she just informed the government so those people who are sitting stilling that were meddled the election of the. presumably say that we influence the resume so this is absolutely unacceptable approach i'll tell you officially that we're never interfered in any internet internal matters of this country and of course we're not going to do this is not the policy of the russian federation so when i was reading all this stuff in the newspapers i think this is

something which well it's just repeated because i think the british sensible people and i'm quite sure. that brags it means brags that this is their choice this is their decision and so we're we're we're just watching this we're not mentally secure anticipates it told what the outcome of this investigation will be. well i'll tell you there will be no facts we don't see any facts about the russian harker's alike here or in the united states we don't have any facts from any single publication in the british press and most of them are very negative every day that russia interfered i mean almost everywhere and but the key question is where are the facts as the reagan said where is the beef. we don't have them so basically i'm

quite sure that there will be some in the gay sions. but no facts this will be the outcome he senses a hint at a poker scene here given that obama came over to the u.k. to tell people to remain effectively when it came to the brakes referendum well some people say the it was a clear cut interference in the internal matters because you know russian there was any think about the let's see our preferences we're happy to deal with the britain as it is in the e.u. or how do you you know for us were doing with the british people with the british and british. british british britain as a country but nobody in the in russia or in there was we have any preferences we don't have any preferences and but the let's see the point of view which was expressed by the former president that somehow influence you know the

public opinion and looking at the wider picture e.g. sense there's a broad coordinated effort to in a sense attack russia. with regard to. interfering in elections because we've seen similar claims from france we've also seen it from the u.s. and now we're seeing it from the u.k. taking i just wondered if you felt there was perhaps a broader campaign a coordinated one even operating against russia. well i don't know whether this is this is the coordinated campaign but definitely the stablish mint in the in the countries you mentioned just rating on the parallel courses in the us that was of course the the russian story the story of the meddling in the elections you know same story here well they were you know to say that it's in germany or in france but in germany you know definitely you have seen

the the the publications that there are no facts and bench really you know there are no facts in any single country you mention so basically you know yes the company is it looks like campaign it's a very it's very let's see quite quite. how to put it. this is basically this is this is quite convenient to make russia's some kind of a scapegoat you know where everything was going wrong but but the key question is there are no facts and we'll be happy you know just to see if you will be presented so but nobody could do this and this is the weakest part of all this complains and what is interesting the people i mean the british people they understand that and they're very suspicious when they're reading the articles that russia is interfering meddling to be different spheres of their life they don't believe in it

and this is the huge challenge for the mainstream media today because the the they're losing trust and i think in the long run they will face quite a serious challenge how to stay restore this trust most of the people who are not reading the newspapers do don't want the mainstream t.v. they are mostly in the social media because you know they receive this information much faster without any. censorship and so this is being aware of life especially young people so yes i think it's sort of campaign i don't know how it's called needed but the but it looks like it has kind of a shape of that and given what you've just said that you think that this will have a serious detrimental effect on russia's relations with the west or do you think it's something that will pass three time. well everything group has definitely but i think the key question you know what kind of trust we have. i

remember you know when when there were a few resistance realty in the rock or in the libya was was accepted you know by the u.n. security council and the way how it happens you know in reality so trust is there is definitely what we need to be and all this kind of campaigns and all this let's say demonization of russia that undermines trust. ok mr vanko thank you very much for your time this evening we appreciate it greatly that was alexander lukashenko the russian ambassador to the u.k. thank you. now in other news today the catalan president has just finished a long awaited statement he says he won't call a snap election a move many expected him to make the spanish senate's meanwhile will start debating applying article one five five on removing catalonia is autonomy and vote on it on

friday will r.t. shot at the pinsky is in barcelona for us with the latest everytime our speech today something new has happened just bring us up to date. well there you go we've just been hearing from the catalogue of president charles three just who's made a declaration that nobody quite anticipated and that is that they will not be a snap election here in catalonia many people including many reports in the local spanish media had been speculating that the catalan president would make that announcement because that would be one way of stopping a very crucial vote that's due to take place on friday evening the spanish government in retreat that is a vote to article one fifty five now if senators in spain vote for the article one fifty five essentially a good move to regional autonomy that catalan has held for the last few years that

is of course something that many people here are unhappy about this comes a bit stout almost a month of tensions between the governments in madrid and the government in catalonia over the future of this country since many people millions went to the polls at the beginning of october and to teach yes even a referendum on independence now the president all the cats of the new colors if you want talks about why he didn't call that snap election he said that he attempted to get the warranties. for these elections to make them happen but he said he couldn't get those warranties and so therefore there was nothing a new guarantee that the justifications he wanted to call the election would happen that he has new york's called that snap election he did go on to say that no one can say that he's not been willing to sacrifice he has been in deadlock two looks pretty much throughout the day in fact he canceled this announcement twice because he's been talking to people from all sides of the spectrum here in catalonia before

he made that announcement that they will not be a snap election however what he has said is that further measures in the dogs to this crisis between madrid in catalonia will now be in the hands of the council moving in parliament and there is a chance that the catalonia parliament itself could decide on whether it should declare outright secession outright independence from spain that would be something that will happen we will find out more about that in the next few days if that is something they're trying to do but for the moment this puts the ball back in the spanish court which is they are due to vote more on article one fifty five now i can tell you that we were at a protest on wednesday many people at that protest said they supported staying part of spain however they were unhappy with article one fifty five they didn't want catalonia to lose its regional autonomy so this could actually spoke even mood division here in catalonia we could see people who originally unionists who wanted

to stay with spain actually deciding to change their vote because the way that madrid has handled this crisis. ok thanks michel are going to be there for us in barcelona. now let's return to our breaking story this hour because twitter has blocked all advertisement from accounts of this channel we can get for the details you don't. just run through them what happened exactly what we're going to bit of. background i knew before we get to this breaking news conference is the last ten fifteen minutes or so it was in september two it's released a report titled russian interference in the u.s. twenty six the elections bots and misinformation r.t. was given a mention in that report specifically twitter released the amount of confidential information how much are spent on advertising on the twitter social media platform now in the very first of them a twitter present will give

a testimony to congress regarding the alleged russian interference in the us election no doubt r.t. will be given a mention in that report as well this comes in the wider context of r.t. coming under pressure in the united states such as under the fair act as well which of course are editor in chief has commented on at length already let's take a listen to what's at the. door and you've done your reinventing recently new active measures except those targeting our reputation has been taken against us in the u.s. specifically newer ousts have we ever experienced the kind of pressure that we experienced today in the u.s. to the point eventually being forced out of the country. now in this context of the pressure the r.t. has come under this china has taken the decision to release some information of its own regarding the oceans that took place between mr channel and twitter in the run up to the us election last year they began as early as april and they focused on a special package which r t which twitter offered to this channel in the wake of

the election this was an exclusive tailor made customized package which would have included many special features customized hash tags analytics data research media strategy specifically to enable according to twitter to give r.t. a wider reach a broader reach to a bigger u.s. audience and spread their message to us audience during the election campaign this was something offered by twitter to r t l after negotiating this offer r.t. to rescission to turn the offer down due to the high cost attached to it and the world because the high cost that would have gone over all the social media budgets for that year subsequently this year another bit of information r.t. actually reduced its twitter social media budget compared with last year because of an satisfactory results now to sum it up only this looks more than strange on the part of twitter to off or r.t. this package specifically with the aim of increasing its reach its market audience

people it reaches subsequently then to release a report saying how much r.t. it actually spent which was substantially less than taken up to his office in the first place and make well very thinly veiled accusations about wrongdoing and misconduct and violation of terms of service it's important to note here that from our editor in chief to a head of social media to our deputy editor they have all made very clear that r.t. has no link to any of this bots fake accounts election interference allegations meddling wrongdoing quite why r.t. has been mentioned in that report to start with even is quite a mystery and the breaking news that we finally can come to know in the last fifteen. two minutes is that twitter has now banned r.t. advertising on its social media platform not only r.t. international but all our other bureaus as well r.t. germany u.k. france spain none of those will be able to advertise on the twitter platform anymore having said that they begin their statement as you can see there on the screen saying that they take freedom of expression very seriously something they

value but they seek to also protect their users and that's why the advertising has been banned although twitter or r.t. rather will remain organic users on the twitter platform that is what they've sent to us in the last fifteen twenty minutes it's also unclear as to why this has happened just days before the due to your testimony before congress which of course we don't know was actually what will be said there but as an editor in chief has also posted on her twitter account recently she very much hopes that the representatives from twitter will let congress know about these negotiations about the package they offered to r.t. about what it entailed about its mission its aims and how or to turn that down in favor of spending much less than they would have done originally so this is very much a developing story and it's very much more to lead a lot of interesting twists and turns here and just on that statement down the mine i know the answer but it said protect our viewers from the from what exactly what they want to say well exactly that's part of the question and as i said the title

of that report was. misinformation bought so these sort of fake accounts trolls etc which russia the kremlin has been widely cuse the butyl izing to somehow impact on the us election but r.t. is an international media channel we don't breach terms of service we don't violate policies we don't engage in this as as i say our heads of social media deputy editors have repeatedly stated so quite why the two are being lumped together in this russian election hacking election interferences theory remains to be seen and it will be certainly very interesting to see how twitter explain that in their testimony to congress certainly will ok. done that was done hawkins there with the hula the toes breaking for. in the meantime british rule makers have revived attempts to find any trace of russian interference in the outcome of last year's brics it's referendum on society as more. well the anti russia hype continues now

here in the u.k. following the brave but quite futile example of this we've seen in the us of trying to implicate russia in election results there were seen as unfavorable now we do know that here in london a committee within the house of commons had sent a letter to the c.e.o. of facebook mark zuckerberg asking him to provide details on russian ads linked to not just the bracks it referendum but also the last u.k. general election now this is part of an investigation being carried out by this committee an inquiry on feek news trying to determine whether or not foreign actors are getting involved by using online platforms to interfere in elections now the russian ambassador to the you can exonerate prevent go so he was surprised to see this kind of reaction from the u.k. given that the bricks at referendum was called of course by the previous conservative government he's asked a question of it's not clear who the british government is if russia is able to influence these kinds of things now this comes just days ago we saw a labor m.p.

within the british parliament also say that it's important to enquire into any participation by russia in terms of interfering in western democracies and really all of this is seen as a sort of repetition of this having been carried out on a also quite wide scale in the us facebook had said that russia linked accounts had bought one hundred thousand dollars worth of ads but obviously this was seen as largely seen as very little proof of anything given the multi-million dollar of budgets when it comes to the election. pains in the us so really all of this despite the lack of any tangible proof really showing us that the show must go on considering russia has become everyone's favorite bad boy it seems. you're watching here or not he will be back after the break with more on our breaking news that

being the twitter has a band. on its platform. in case you're new to the game this is how it works my economy is built around quite. perforations from washington to washington the media the media. voters elected to run this country business because. you must it's not business as usual it's business like it's never been done before. here's what people have been saying about rejected in the senate it's full on. the only show i go out of my will.