Twitter shuts down 125,000 Daesh accounts
Twitter, an American social networking website, says since 2015 it has deleted 125,000 accounts linked to the Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri group.
The California-based company made the announcement on Thursday, adding it has stepped up its fight against violent extremism online.
“We condemn the use of Twitter to promote violent terrorism. This type of behavior, or any violent threats, is not permitted on our service,” Twitter officials said in a statement.
The service has increased the size of the teams in charge of reviewing reports of terrorist activity, reducing the time required to respond to such reports, it added.
This is the first time that the popular micro blogging service has revealed the scale of terrorist activity on its service.
Last year, the Brookings Institution said there might be as many as 46,000 Twitter accounts used by Daesh sympathizers.
The new figure suggests that either Daesh has increased its presence on the service since then, or Twitter has gotten more effective in identifying terrorist accounts.
"We have already seen results, including an increase in account suspensions and this type of activity shifting off of Twitter," the company added.
According to Twitter, the Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) Director James Foley, in July, praised the company for its help in trying to shut down terrorism related accounts.
It is estimated that extremists post about 90,000 Twitter messages a day, according to the Counter Extremism Project, a New York-based nonprofit organization.
The news comes less than a month after top US national security officials met with tech leaders to seek their help in disrupting online activities of terrorist groups in recruitment, radicalization and plotting attacks.
President Barack Obama said in a recent speech that he planned to "urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice."
Back in December, the US Congress introduced legislation requiring social media companies to report online to law enforcement any terrorist activity they detect, such as planning, recruiting or distribution of terrorist material.
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