Facebook has said less than £1 was spent on Russian adverts designed to disrupt the Brexit vote, downplaying claims that meddling from the Kremlin helped swing last year’s referendum.

The US internet giant responded to an investigation from the Electoral Commission by saying the Internet Research Agency, a shadowy organisation with links to the Russian government, spent just $0.97 (73p) in Britain during the two months of the EU referendum campaign.

However, its claims were instantly disputed by a senior MP.

Damian Collins, the chair of the digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) committee, accused Facebook of failing to probe the true extent of Russian meddling.

Facebook, Twitter and Google have been under pressure to reveal the extent of foreign interference in both last year’s referendum and this year’s general election, amid US scrutiny of Russia’s role in Donald Trump’s victory last year.

It has been claimed that thousands of Russian Twitter “bots” were active during the votes, and Facebook has admitted that around $100,000 was spent by the Internet Research Agency around the US election to promote divisive messages on issues such as race and religion.

Responding to the Electoral Commission and to Mr Collins’ separate inquiry, Facebook said that during the official referendum campaign, between April 15 and June 23, just three adverts were seen a total of 200 times. It said they were not directly related to the Brexit vote but to immigration, and were also shown to voters in the US.