Islamic State is urging its followers to kill
In an Arabic-language post on the JustPaste.it site, IS supporters warn Twitter: "We told you from the beginning it's not your war, but you didn't understand what we were saying and kept closing our accounts on Twitter, though we always quickly come back."
And the post goes on to warn Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and company employees that they will be "helpless when their necks officially become a target for the soldiers of the Caliphate and supporters scattered among your midst!"
The post, first spotted by Buzzfeed, features a picture of Dorsey in the cross-hairs of a gun, and had already had over 2,500 views. Like the similar threats to police and the military in the US, the UK, and France, it calls on individual jihadis to take action.
Twitter has confirmed that it is taking the threat seriously and has reported it to law enforcement agencies.
The company's been staunch in its efforts to remove IS-related accounts from its service. Last summer, it told a UK government hearing that it had more than 100 people working round the clock to investigate flagged accounts, and that many are removed within minutes of going live.
In a report due to be released this month, researchers J.M. Berger and Jonathon Morgan say that an astonishing 18,000 accounts were been pulled in the last quarter of last year. However, just as many remain, and former National Security Council staffer Hillary Mann Leverett recently told CNN’s New Day that IS is putting out 90,000 social messages a day. That's actually believed to be a big underestimate.
Islamic State has been uniquely efficient amongst hate groups in its use of social media to spread its message. Many of the most active accounts are bots, tweeting links to IS propaganda at such a rate that they shoot up search rankings, and the group's even believed to be purchasing retweets.
Since last summer, when IS posted a horrifying video of the beheading of American journalist James Foley, Twitter has fought hard to target its accounts.
YouTube has done the same, pulling video of the beheading of hostages including US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, American aid worker Peter Kassig and British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines.
Meanwhile, Facebook has deleted a number of horrifying videos, including one showing Jordanian pilot Lieutenant Muadh al-Kasasbeh being burned alive in a cage.
No doubt these companies, too, will be fearing reprisals.
