Twitter said Thursday it
has suspended over one million accounts for “promotion of terrorism”
since 2015, claiming its efforts have begun to make the platform “an
undesirable place” to call for violence.
In its latest
transparency report, Twitter said it suspended 274,460 accounts between
July and December 2017 “for violations related to the promotion of
terrorism.”
The figure is down 8.4 percent from the previous reporting
period and is the second consecutive decline, a Twitter statement said.
“We
continue to see the positive, significant impact of years of hard work
making our site an undesirable place for those seeking to promote
terrorism, resulting in this type of activity increasingly shifting away
from Twitter,” said the statement from the messaging platform’s public
policy team.
Twitter has faced pressure from governments around
the world to crack down on jihadists and others calling for violent
attacks, while at the same time maintaining an open platform for free
speech.
In the latest six-month reporting period, Twitter said 93
percent of the suspended accounts were “flagged by internal, proprietary
tools,” and that 74 percent were cut off before their first tweet.
It
said government reports of violations related to the promotion of
terrorism represent less than 0.2 percent of all suspensions in the
period.
Twitter also used the report to express concerns about
what it called “legal threats to freedom of expression” online in
countries around the world.
“With the passage of new legislation
and ongoing regulatory discussions taking place around the world about
the future of public discourse online, we are seeing a potential
chilling effect with regards to freedom of expression,” the report said.
It
cited a Human Rights Watch report suggesting that “governments around
the world (are) increasingly look to restrict online speech by forcing
social media companies to act as their censors.”