• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 25, 2018

Beating analyst expectations, Twitter on Thursday reported third-quarter revenue of $758 million -- up 29% year-over-year -- and earnings per share of 21 cents.

CEO Jack Dorsey said the strong performance was proof that Twitter can crack down on bad actors without sacrificing popularity or profits.

“This quarter’s strong results prove we can prioritize the long-term health of Twitter, while growing the number of people who participate in public conversation,” Dorsey said in an earnings statement.

Boosting its bottom line, Dorsey said Twitter is also making it easier for folks to follow events, topics and interests on the platform -- like adding support for TV shows in its event infrastructure.

During the quarter, ad revenue totaled $650 million -- an increase of 29% year-over-year -- while total ad engagement increased 50% year-over-year. Cost per engagement decreased 14% year-over-year.

Data licensing and other revenue totaled $108 million, which represented an increase of 25% year-over-year.

Stateside, revenue totaled $423 million -- an increase of 28%, year-over-year -- while international revenue totaled $335 million, which represented an increase of 30% year-over-year.

Average daily active users increased 9% year-over-year, compared to 14% in the same period last year, and 11% in the previous quarter. During the quarter, average monthly active users (MAUs) totaled 326 million -- up from 330 million in the same period last year.

Yet MAUs actually declined by about 9 million, compared to last quarter’s count of 335 million.

Twitter blamed the MAU drop on the rollout of the GDPR in Europe, along with its decision to suspend millions of suspect accounts, and not move paid SMS carrier relationships in certain markets.

In addition, product changes reduced automated usage and a technical issue temporarily reduced the number of notifications sent, Twitter admitted.

Domestically, average MAUs were 67 million -- down from 69 million during the same period last year, and 68 million last quarter.