Indian activists burn an ISIS flag last August. Image: SAJJAD HUSSAIN/Getty
Twitter put out a blog post on Friday describing efforts it has taken to "combat violent extremism," claiming that the platform has suspended "over 125,000 accounts for threatening or promoting terrorist acts primarily related to ISIS."On top of that, Twitter has added more personnel to look at any accounts reported for threatening or promoting terrorism, and is also "leverag[ing] proprietary spam-fighting tools to surface other potentially violating accounts for review by our agents." Twitter is also partnering with anti-extremist organizations, and has been cooperating with law enforcement "when appropriate." According to the company, it has since seen "this type of activity shifting off of Twitter."Twitter has long come under fire for ISIS's extensive presence on the platform. In March 2015, the Brookings Institute published "The ISIS Twitter Census," a paper on the ISIS supporters on the platform. In January 2016, activist and developer Randi Lee Harper pointed out an ISIS manual for creating and using botnets that she had found. According to Harper, ISIS is "quite organized when it comes to social media." It's possible that the "proprietary spam-fighting tools" mentioned in Twitter's blogpost are being used to deal with those botnets.On January 13, 2016, the widow of an American killed in an ISIS attack sued Twitter for "providing material support" to terrorist groups. Although legal experts have said the widow's lawsuit "faces an uphill battle," Twitter appears to be taking it seriously. The company has retained former US Solicitor General Seth Waxman to defend it in this case. Waxman is one of the leading members of his profession, and has frequently argued before the Supreme Court.Twitter's latest announcement comes at a time when ISIS's online presence is increasingly politicized. As the company itself points out, in July 2015, FBI Director James Comey said that Twitter was "very good and thoughtful and hardworking at trying to shut down [terrorism-related] accounts." But in November, Congressman Joe Barton suggested simply shutting down websites if ISIS were found on them. And although likely no one is taking Barton seriously, the government is still very much concerned about ISIS on social media. "They use the internet to poison the minds of individuals inside our country," said President Barack Obama in his 2016 State of the Union address.No one can really accuse Twitter of not caring, or not doing anything at all. For now, the government may be satisfied with these efforts, but it doesn't look like the pressure on Twitter is going to ease off any time soon.