Twitter is being sued for providing material support to terrorist groups.
There are many accounts spread across Twitter that offer support to the Al-Qaeda splinter group who have claimed unprecedented land for extremists in both Syria and Iraq.
An American widow, whose husband Lloyd Fields was killed in a November attack by the Islamic State on a Jordanian police training academy, is trying to hold Twitter to account for supposedly allowing ISIS to proliferate in such an exponential way.
According to Reuters, the lawsuit claims that “without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most-feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible.” The document quotes FBI director James Comey who has associated the use of Twitter with ISIS’ success in their treacherous activities.
Field’s wife Tamara is arguing that by providing a platform that is accessed and used by ISIS operatives and recruiters, Twitter can he held complicit in ISIS’ crimes.
Twitter have responded to the lawsuit, giving this statement to Motherboard:
“While we believe the lawsuit is without merit, we are deeply saddened to hear of this family’s terrible loss. Like people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups and their ripple effects on the Internet. Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear. We have teams around the world actively investigating reports of rule violations, identifying violating conduct, partnering with organizations countering extremist content online, and working with law enforcement entities when appropriate.
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