Poe, Sherman, Royce Engel: Shut down Terrorists on Twitter

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This week, Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sent a bipartisan letter to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo urging him to increase efforts to combat foreign terrorist organizations who are using the American social media company to fundraise, spread their propaganda and recruit new jihadists.

Recently Twitter shut down 2,000 accounts. However, according to the Brookings Institution, there are approximately 46,000 active ISIS accounts on Twitter. The letter calls on Twitter to set up new streamlined procedures to counter the efforts of terrorists using social media and urges Twitter to treat terrorist content the same way they treat other objectionable content.

Congressman Poe said, "Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations should not be allowed to use private American companies like Twitter as a free and instant tool to radicalize thousands of young impressionable minds throughout the world and recruit new jihadists. Groups like ISIS have successfully used social media as a way to broadcast their barbaric acts and propaganda to the world, not to mention to fundraise millions of dollars for their reign of terror. Twitter is far behind other social media companies that are combatting this threat. Twitter needs to do more. It's time to put a stop to this cyber jihad."

Congressman Sherman said, "I recognize that Twitter has recently removed many accounts associated with terrorists, but they need to put forward a more consistent and systematic effort. Twitter has systems in place to rectify copyright and trademark infringement. The least they can do is to have similar systems in place to address terrorism. At times this may be like a game of whack-a-mole – with the moles being terrorist operatives that pop up here and there online. But, it's far better to play the game than ignore the moles altogether."

Congressman Royce: "ISIS is recruiting on its virtual caliphate at an unprecedented and very disturbing rate. Companies need to ensure that their social media services are not being hijacked for terrorist use."

Congressman Engel: "Times have changed and so have the means by which terrorists incite violence and recruit membership. The Internet, while facilitating many revolutionary accomplishments, has also created a terrorist breeding ground that cannot be ignored. Our efforts to combat this trend requires dedication, adaptation, and cooperation. While I applaud Twitter's recent removal of over 2,000 accounts believed to be associated with terrorist activity, this can only be considered a first step. Twitter can, and must, do more to deny groups like ISIS a forum to promote their nefarious activities."

See text of letter below:

Dear Mr. Costolo,

We are concerned that designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and their supporters actively use Twitter to disseminate propaganda, drive fundraising, and recruit new members—even posting graphic content depicting the murder of individuals they have captured.

We applaud your removal of some terrorist content, which has provoked serious threats against Twitter and its employees. However, we urge Twitter to treat all terrorist activity in the same way it treats other objectionable content. Users should have the option to report terrorist content in a streamlined manner, allowing Twitter to quickly block content and accounts that support terrorism, and Twitter should have a dedicated team to review such reports in a timely fashion. As you know, there is precedent in the social media industry for such a response.

As Members of Congress, we are strong advocates for the right to free speech as protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. We commend Twitter's strong commitment to promoting free speech in the United States and around the world. However, when Twitter accounts are used to support terrorism, such content does not deserve protection.

It is our hope that this voluntary action will help prevent violent extremists from using social media and the Internet to advance their hateful ideology.