27,000 pro-IS twitter accounts set up in aftermath of beheading

A Sky News investigation has found that almost 30,000 Twitter accounts have been set up by Islamic State (IS) sympathisers since the social network site declared it would try to stamp them out in the wake of the murder of James Foley. In the first research of its kind, a unique analysis of the way Muslim extremists are using social media suggests sites are struggling to police postings effectively. Some 60,000 accounts expressing pro-jihadi views have been set up in total since May, the research found. And 27,000 of these were established after August 20 - the day after Islamic State posted the video of the beheading of the U.S. journalist.

Clearly, the current manual process where Twitter shuts down accounts that are reported cannot keep up with this tactic. We believe automated approaches can be used to successfully block improper content that violates the Twitter rules.

Staffan Truvé, the chief technology officer of Recorded Future

The social media analysis was carried out on behalf of Sky News by the web intelligence firm Recorded Future. In the wake of Mr Foley’s murder, Twitter announced it would suspend accounts that posted graphic imagery or ‘calls to violent actions’. Yet the analysis suggests that often as soon as an account is closed down, another replaces it almost instantly - with a simple change of name. One account identified by the researchers posted a death threat to a journalist, was shut down and within days an account bearing a very similar name was posting similar material. As part of the research, analysts defined a pro-IS account as one talking about positively about IS and about violence.

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