DCU study finds majority of IS-linked accounts suspended by Twitter
Almost two-thirds of Twitter accounts linked to the so-called 'Islamic State' group were suspended within 17 hours, when sampled in April, it was found.
The EU funded research, which was carried out by DCU and the University of Sussex, in a case-study of a 74-hour period between April 3-4, analysing 153 pro-IS accounts that shared out-links to official IS propaganda, 65% of these accounts were suspended within the first 17 hours.
The report, Disrupting Daesh, found other Jihadi accounts received less focus, with just 1% disrupted in the five days after being set up.
The study also shows that Twitter is only one of a number of social media providers used by IS.
"Our study seeks to measure the impact of social media disruption of terrorism content and how effective the monitoring and removal of such content has been," said Prof. Maura Conway of DCU’s School of Law and Government and Co-ordinator of VOX-Pol.
"Our findings show that Twitter is strongly focussed on disrupting Islamic State, which means that the platform is now a much less conducive environment for the group than it once was.
"However, this has enabled other violent Jihadi groups to maintain their presence and to continue to spread their message with much less hindrance than that faced by IS."
