Microblogging platform Twitter says it has blocked up to 125,000 accounts being used by terror groups, especially the Islamic State (ISIS), to promote terrorists acts in the last eight months.
In a statement, the company says it is using spam-fighting technology to seek out and automatically flag accounts promoting terrorist activity, Daily Mail reports.
This is just as the company moves towards automation as the United States government urged social media companies to respond in a more aggressive manner towards reports of abuse.
The statement read: “Like most people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups,’ Twitter said.
“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.
“As the nature of the terrorist threat has changed, so has our ongoing work in this area. Since the middle of 2015 alone, we’ve suspended over 125,000 accounts for threatening or promoting terrorist acts, primarily related to ISIS.’
The firm also said it has increased the size of the teams that review reports, reducing response time significantly.
“We also look into other accounts similar to those reported and leverage proprietary spam-fighting tools to surface other potentially violating accounts for review by our agents.
“We have already seen results, including an increase in account suspensions and this type of activity shifting off of Twitter.”
Twitter said it has “always sought to strike a balance between the enforcement of our own Twitter Rules covering prohibited behaviors, the legitimate needs of law enforcement, and the ability of users to share their views freely – including views that some people may disagree with or find offensive.”
“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 judgement calls based on very limited information and guidance.
“In spite of these challenges, we will continue to aggressively enforce our Rules in this area, and engage with authorities and other relevant organizations to find solutions to this critical issue and promote powerful counter-speech narratives.”
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