Twitter, which is the hot favorite of the terrorist group ISIS for spreading terror, has won praises from the nonprofit Simon Wiesenthal Center on Monday for making serious efforts to discourage and stop the use of its platform by Islamic State for recruitment and propaganda spreading purposes.
Twitter secures a better grade this year
Twitter secured ‘B’ grade in a report card of the efforts social networking companies are making to fight online activities of militant groups such as IS, according to the center of Digital Terrorism and Hate Project. Speaking to Reuters, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the project’s director said, “We think they are definitely heading in the right direction.”
Last year, the social media firm received ‘C’ grade from the center in its report card, which covered the efforts it has made to fight terrorism and hate speech. This year, it has received two grades – a ‘D’ on hate speech about which the center said the company needs to do a lot more for censoring accounts of groups that promote hate.
Facebook and Alphabet are the other internet firms included in this year’s survey. Facebook secured an “A-“ in terrorism and “B-” for hate while Alphabet’s YouTube got a “B-” for terrorism and a “D” for hate.
Limiting ISIS’s reach
Cooper informed that the steps Twitter had taken, and the information that the center staff learned in face-to-face meetings with the company representatives were used as the basis of the review. In past, Twitter has faced tough criticisms from the Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organization, regarding its strategy for combating terrorism.
A spokesman from the company declined to comment on the matter, but he pointed to a statement posted on the site on February 5th. “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 blog reads.
Last year, Twitter stepped-up its efforts to crackdown the extremist group’s army of digital proselytizers, and as a result, Islamic State’s English-language reach on the platform stalled, reported researchers with George Washington University’s Program on Extremism last month.
On Monday, Twitter shares closed down 1.08% at $19.15. Year to date, the stock is down over 17% while in the last one-year, it is down over 59%.
