Twitter Shuts Down al-Qaeda

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After laying siege to a Nairobi mall and slaughtering non-Muslim innocent men, women, and children, the Islamic radicals of al-Shabaab were actively Tweeting.  But, good news!  Twitter is not interested in becoming a tool for Islamic terrorists to communicate their offensive activities or propaganda.  Since Saturday’s attack on the Nairobi mall, Twitter has blocked six al-Qaeda sponsored Twitter accounts.

According to the Washington Free Beacon,

Twitter blocks multiple accounts of Somali al Qaeda group during Kenya attack

The social media giant Twitter is fighting to prevent the al Qaeda terrorist group al Shabaab from using its service to spread propaganda and has blocked six accounts linked to the group, including at least three created in the past two days, according to U.S. officials.

A day after the group’s official Twitter account was blocked, U.S. officials said al Shabaab created two other accounts that were subsequently blocked.

By Tuesday morning, Al Shabaab re-emerged with yet another account, @HSM_PR that stated in a propaganda post at 10:12 EDT, that the attack in Nairobi is a “new dawn.”

Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler declined to comment, citing a policy of not discussing individual accounts.

Twitter’s terms of service prohibit threatening language and behavior. “You may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others,” the terms state.

Al Shabaab, al Qaeda’s Horn of Africa affiliate, launched a deadly attack Saturday at a Nairobi, Kenya, shopping mall that killed at least 68 people, and wounded more than 200.

According to officials who monitor terrorist groups on the Internet, the group’s new account set up Monday gathered more than 1,300 followers, including media and government agencies, before it too was shut down.

Analysts say the use of social media like Twitter and Facebook by terrorist groups is increasing, as Islamists seek to exploit social media for propaganda and recruitment.

The official account of the group, @HSM_PressOffice, was stopped Sunday and its follow-on account, @HSMPROffice, sent messages about the ongoing terror attack for a short period Monday. …

“The #Westgate Warriors informed HSM Press that they’ve successfully repelled a joint Kenyan-Jewish offensive and eliminated 13 Kenyan forces,” a third Tweet stated, referring to Israeli security assistance to the Kenyan forces battling the terrorists at the mall.

Al Shabaab’s Twitter account continued, stating that the terrorists had large stocks of ammunition.

The group also threatened to conduct wider attacks.

Hat tip: Gini

 

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