Here's What Happens When You Report an ISIS-Inspired Account to Twitter

Impact

Over the weekend, New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi schooled the world on the Islamic State group in 19 rapid-fire tweets following President Barack Obama's Oval Office address. Yet despite her expertise, when she reported a Twitter account spouting ISIS ideologies on Tuesday, Twitter said they "could not determine a clear violation of the Twitter rules surrounding abuse behavior." 

Callimachi was reporting the account @Muslimah_9_11. Since her tweet, the account has been suspended, but not before @CtrlSec, an account loosely affiliated with Anonymous, grabbed screenshots

Mic/Twitter
Mic/Twitter
Mic/Twitter

Twitter's initial inaction is at odds with a Reuters story on the efforts of social media networks to monitor such activity. "Facebook, Google and Twitter are stepping up efforts to combat online propaganda and recruiting by Islamic militants, but the Internet companies are doing it quietly to avoid the perception that they are helping the authorities police the Web," the article states. 

Last week, Facebook removed what was said to be an alias profile of San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik, through which she declared her allegiance to the Islamic state during the massacre. But on Twitter, it has been largely a community of rogue users who have spearheaded the initiative to find, and advocate for the removal of, ISIS-inspired accounts.

Yesterday @CtrlSec tweeted out some statistics on their rate of success.