Revenue loss hurts Twitter amid pandemic despite surge in users

Washington: Twitter said Thursday user growth soared in the past quarter even as ad revenues took a hit amid civil unrest in the United States.

The short-messaging service reported a net loss of $1.2 billion in the quarter, most of that coming from setting aside funds for income taxes.

Revenue slumped 19 percent from a year ago to $683 million. Despite some modest rebound from the pandemic-induced economic slump, Twitter said that “many brands slowed or paused spend in reaction to US civil unrest” in May and June.

Twitter said ad revenue declined 15 percent over the last three weeks of June, but appeared to have rebounded since then.