Twitter
announced on Friday afternoon that it has suspended at least 125,000 accounts that are related to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (
ISIS) since mid-2015.
They were suspended, the social media network said, after threatening or promoting terrorist acts related to ISIS.
"Like most people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups. 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 network said in a blog post on Friday.
This disclosure is significant as it marks the first time that Twitter has made these suspensions public and appears to be a response to pressure from the White House as well as the French, Australian and British governments. It is also the most prominent and significant action by a technology firm since Obama administration cabinet officials flew across the country last month to ask Silicon Valley for help.
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White House officials meet with top tech executives Twitter said it has expanded the size of their teams that actively search for these types of accounts by applying spam-fighting algorithms. The social media network has said there is no "magic algorithm" for identifying terrorist content.
It made the announcement on its policy account.
