Eugene Kaspersky attacks Twitter over advertising ban for Kaspersky Labs

Twitter claims Kaspersky's business model 'inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practice'

Kaspersky Labs co-founder Eugene Kaspersky has hit out at a Twitter advertising ban and demanded an explanation from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

The advertising ban was instituted without explanation or fanfare in January amid claims that Kaspersky had allowed its network to be used by Russian government security services.

Kaspersky and its co-founder are still free to operate Twitter accounts, but can't use the platform to advertise their products.

Eugene Kaspersky is far from happy, though. Kaspersky director Svetlana Ivanovathen has penned a complaint to Sinead McSweeney, the social network's vice president of public policy and communication, asking to know why the cybersecurity firm has been denied access to Twitter advertising.

However, the company claims it did not get a full response. Kaspersky has therefore gone public, with Eugene Kaspersky penning an open blog post demanding clarification and that his questions about the ban are answered.

Quoting Game of Thrones, he directed the post at Twitter head honcho Jack Dorsey and the company's top-brass, noting that while he agreed with the need to defend against misinformation, Kaspersky wasn't spreading it or obviously violating any advertising rules.

"One thing I can say for sure is this: we haven't violated any written - or unwritten - rules, and our business model is quite simply the same template business model that's used throughout the whole cybersecurity industry," he wrote.

"We provide users with products and services, and they pay us for them. What specific (or even non-specific) rules, standards and/or business practices we violated are not stated in the letter. In my view, the ban itself contradicts Twitter's declared-as-adopted principle of freedom of expression."

However, Kaspersky is willing to let things slide if Twitter admits that it was a mistake: "Twitter, if this is a matter of a decision being made in error, please openly admit this; people'd forgive you - everyone makes mistakes! I think that would be the only civilized way to quash any doubts about potential political censorship on Twitter."

Kaspersky alluded that Twitter should not listen to the accusations of the US government that Kaspersky is in league with the Kremlin, which Kaspersky has denied a number of times, and even offered its source code for inspection.

The cybersecurity figurehead also pointed out that Twitter's ban on Kaspersky Labs ads also plays into the hands of cybercriminals as it prevents Kaspersky from promoting ways for people to protect themselves.

Kaspersky also hammered home the dangers of internet censorship, and pledged to donate the money the company would have spent on Twitter advertising to the digital civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation instead.

Computing contacted Twitter for comment, but the company responded with the same style of statement Kaspersky received.

"Kaspersky Lab operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practice", a spokesperson said, but didn't explain how it was violating those policies.