Israel calls on Twitter to shut down terror groups’ accounts

JTA
Published June 14, 2018

(JTA) — Israel’s security chief has called on Twitter to shut down the accounts of terrorist groups including Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.

Public Security and Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan in a letter sent earlier this week to the social media network’s CEO and executive chairman  said that Twitter has been “largely irresponsive to requests by the Israeli authorities to remove terrorist content and shut down terrorist accounts.”

Erdan said that “enabling terrorist organizations to operate freely and spread their messages via your platform may be a violation of existing Israeli law regarding providing support to terrorist organizations.”

The letter supplied a partial list of Twitter accounts affiliated with terror organizations and threatened legal action if they are not removed.

Erdan said that “terrorist organizations have been increasing their use of Twitter as a preferred means of spreading their propaganda, as they are able to operate openly with little to no interference.”