In accordance with its pledge to discourage the use of its blog to promote terrorism, Twitter, the popular social networking site has announced that it has so far suspended over 125,000 counts believed to have carried contents relating to terror. Many of the suspended accounts are said to have been linked to ISIS, the dreaded terrorist group that appears to be leading similar groups in the current acts of terrorism globally.
The company said in a statement, “we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups. We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter Rules make it clear that this type of behavior, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service.” After taking a decision to censor hate content on its network, it increased its budget to increase the team that review reports on its network. The action paid off as more hate contents were discovered, with Twitter realizing that ISIS, in particular, was using twitter to recruit members and getting sympathizers. It says it has also reduced its response time to detecting and blocking suspected terrorism twitter accounts.
The company says while it supports the freedom of speech, it also strikes a balance with the promotion of peace, which compels it to cooperate with the security in efforts to rid the world of hate groups. The company said it has also cooperated with different organizations, private and public, involved in the campaign to stop or minimize the activities of terror group all over the world.
Some of those suing their accounts to promote terror do not just stop at sympathizing with terrorists; they sometimes become members with growing influence in the campaign of terror. For example, Junaid Hussein was described as a ‘senior ‘ propagandist in ISIS, because of his effective use of social media in the hate campaign. The 21-year-old was killed last year in an air strike by the United States. Defending the action by the Barack Obama administration, an official was reported as saying, “We’ve been clear that Junaid Hussain was more than a mere propagandist. He was a key recruiter of Westerners and sought to direct attacks in the United States, specifically targeting U.S. military personnel and other government officials.” The move by Twitter could only be a short in the arm for soldiers of the war against violence.
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