Twitter staff are donating almost $1.6 million (£1.2 million) to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight President Donald Trump’s ban on travellers from seven majority-Muslim countries.

The donation was earlier reported on by TechCrunch and BuzzFeed, and a Twitter spokesperson confirmed the news to Business Insider.

Twitter employees raised $530,000 (£421,000) for the rights organisation — and this amount was matched by executive chairman Omid Kordestani and CEO Jack Dorsey, bringing it to $1.59 million.

In a company-wide email obtained by TechCrunch, General Counsel Vijaya Gadde wrote: “Our work is far from done. In the coming months we’ll see a flurry of legal challenges, legislative pushes and public pronouncements. But as long as civil liberties are threatened, I’m proud to know that as individuals we will stand up to defend freedom and look after people.”

President Trump’s executive order on immigration has provoked fury among the tech community, with companies including Facebook, Google, and Airbnb condemning the suspension of the United States’ refugee program and bar on visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

Protestors gather against Donald Trump's Muslim travel banProtestors gather against Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban.Zach Gibson / Stringer

Google has launched a crisis fund of up to $4 million (£3.1 million) that it may donate to the ACLU and other organisations battling the executive order and providing relief for those affected. Over the weekend that Trump signed the order, the ACLU received $24 million (£19 million) in online donations — a radical increase on the $4 million that the non-profit normally gets in an entire year.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has also spoken out against the executive order on the social network, tweeting on Saturday: “The Executive Order’s humanitarian and economic impact is real and upsetting. We benefit from what refugees and immigrants bring to the U.S.”