Twitter has been facing the anger of hacktivists, who told Express Online that every month thousands of ISIS accounts are being shut down. Unfortunately, Twitter, which said it is trying its best to shut down terrorist accounts, is targeting hacktivists themselves — not jihadis — under “anti-harassment” rules.
Twitter targeting wrong accounts
Hackers from groups such as Anonymous and Ctrl Sec take immediate action in taking down any accounts ISIS sets up. However, they complain that the social media site is shutting their accounts down.
In recent months, Twitter has faced a lot of criticism over the manner in which it handles the ISIS crisis. The company even had a lawsuit filed against it in January when a Florida woman named Tamara Fields accused the company of breaching the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act by “spreading extremist propaganda,” which led to an attack in Jordan where her husband, private contractor Lloyd “Carl” Fields Jr., was killed.
Later in a blog post, Twitter stated that it has suspended 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 for “threatening or promoting terrorist acts, primarily related to ISIS.” This claim has been in dispute.
Anti-terrorist hacker WauchulaGhost with the hacker collective Anonymous, said, “Who suspended 125,000 accounts? Anonymous, Anonymous affiliated groups, and everyday citizens. You do realise if we all stopped reporting terrorist accounts and graphic images, Twitter would be flooded with terrorists,” the anti-terrorist hacker group said.
“Anti-bullying pledge” to blame
Twitter’s announcement left Anonymous members angered, and they then revealed that the social media company had banned their accounts and not those of ISIS. In February, the accounts of 15 hackers were shut down in a single day despite the efforts they made in finding and reporting jihadis. After receiving complaints, these accounts were reactivated within hours.
Speaking to Epoch Times in an interview, WauchulaGhost said that it is the company’s anti-bullying pledge that is making it shut down the accounts.
“I can say they are suspending a lot of accounts for harassment. Good accounts not Daesh accounts. Even a lot of our (Anonymous) accounts are being suspended for harassment.”
The hacker even suggested Twitter add “terrorist” to the reporting options.
George Washington University published a report last month claiming that at any given time, there are about 3,000 active ISIS-supporting Twitter accounts. ISIS supporters use Twitter and Facebook to spread their propaganda.
