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WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. social networking service Twitter has turned over to Senate investigators handles, or profile names, of 201 accounts associated with alleged Russian effort to meddle in the U.S. presidential election last year.

The handover, as part of its effort to aid the Russian probe, took place this week, U.S. media reported Friday.

Those handles previously had not been submitted partly due to what the company said were legal privacy issues, reports said.

The move came after critics said the tech giant was not taking the congressional investigation seriously enough.

Twitter was also criticized for reportedly deleting tweets and other user data useful to investigators looking into Moscow's suspected manipulation of the social media service during the 2016 election, but it has neither denied nor confirmed the report.

The Senate has invited Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, to a public hearing set for Nov. 1.