WASHINGTON: Twitter showed strong gains in its user base with more people turning to the short-message social network during the pandemic and civil unrest, according to a quarterly update Thursday that offered positive signs despite a big drop in ad revenues.

The short-message social network 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. A key metric for Twitter, the number of "monetizable" daily active users, hit 186 million in the second quarter for a jump of 34 percent from last year.

Chief executive Jack Dorsey said the user gains showed "the highest quarterly year-over-year growth rate we've delivered" using this measure. "People continue to come to Twitter to learn about and participate in conversations focused on systemic racism, Black Lives Matters, Covid-19 and the reopening and reclosing of economies all around the world," Dorsey told analysts on a conference call. Twitter shares rallied more than three percent in early Wall Street trading.