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Terrorism: Twitter blocks additional 235,000 accounts

by IBNS 19 Aug 2016, 11:06 am

New York, Aug 19 (IBNS): Micro-blogging site Twitter, which is used by celebrities, politicians and common man across the globe to share their ideas and opinions on numerous issues, on Friday said it has suspended additional 235,000 accounts for violating its policies related to promotion of terrorism in the last six months.

"While our work is not done, today we are announcing that we have suspended an additional 235,000 accounts for violating our policies related to promotion of terrorism in the six months since our February 2016 post," read the Twitter blog.

"This brings our overall number of suspensions to 360,000 since the middle of 2015," it said.

"As noted by numerous third parties, our efforts continue to drive meaningful results, including a significant shift in this type of activity off of Twitter," Twitter said.

"Daily suspensions are up over 80 percent since last year, with spikes in suspensions immediately following terrorist attacks," it said.

The blog further said: "In addition to these account suspensions, our global Public Policy team has expanded its partnerships with organizations working to counter violent extremism (CVE) online."

It said: "We work with respected organizations such as Parle-moi d’Islam (France), Imams Online (UK), Wahid Foundation (Indonesia), The Sawab Center (UAE), and True Islam (US) to empower credible non-governmental voices against violent extremism."

The site mentioned in its blog: "Over the last six months, we also attended government-convened summits on CVE hosted by the French Interior Ministry and the Indonesian National Counterterrorism Agency."

Twitter has become a popular tool for politicians and celebrities to connect with their followers in recent times.