Twitter suspends 125,000 accounts in ‘terrorist content’ crackdown
Twitter suspended over 125,000 accounts, most of them linked to the Daesh group, as part of a stepped-up effort to eradicate "terrorist content" on the popular messaging platform, it said on Friday.
The accounts frozen since mid-2015 were targeted "for threatening or promoting terrorist acts," said Twitter, which is under pressure from governments to act but faces a delicate balancing act and is keen not to be seen to be effectively censoring free speech.
"Like most people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups," Twitter said on its policy blog. "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."
The announcement comes after the United States and other governments urged social networks to take more aggressive steps to root out activity aimed at recruiting and planning violent acts.
Twitter said it already has rules to discourage this activity but that it was driv
ing up
enforcement by boosting staff and using technology to filter violence-promoting content. But it warned there is no easy technological solution. "As many experts and other companies have noted, there is no 'magic algorithm' for identifying terrorist content on the Internet, so global online platforms are forced to make challenging judgment calls based on very limited information and guidance," Twitter said.
The European Commission has also called for talks with major social media networks. And France passed emergency measures last year that could shut down websites or social media accounts which encourage terrorist actions. Twitter said it has long sought to enforce its rules on promoting violence, while maintaining an open platform. By ramping up the efforts, Twitter said, "we have already seen results, including an increase in account suspensions and this type of activity shifting off of Twitter."
Last March, Facebook updated its "community standards," saying this would curb the use of the social network giant for promoting terrorism or hate speech.
The update said Facebook will not allow a presence from groups advocating "terrorist activity, organized criminal activity or promoting hate." The move came after videos of gruesome executions appeared on Facebook and other social media as part of Daesh group propaganda efforts.