Side Note

1.2 million terrorist accounts found on Twitter

On Thursday, Twitter confirmed that over 1.2 million accounts had used the app to promote terrorism over a two year period.

In a statement on expanding and building transparency, Twitter’s Public Policy branch wrote that “Between August 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017, we suspended 1,210,357 accounts from Twitter for violations related to the promotion of terrorism.”

Twitter noted that 274,460 accounts were identified (and subsequently suspended) in the last reporting period, adding that “93% were flagged by internal, proprietary tools, and 74% of those accounts were suspended before their first Tweet.”

Twitter says it’s suspended them all.

The announcement follows a particularly rough year for Twitter, which has struggled with the moderation of both users and content alike.

The statement comes as part of the company’s 12th biannual Twitter Transparency Report, which aims to provide “meaningful transparency about requests we receive to disclose account information or remove content.”