People holding mobile phones are silhouetted against a backdrop projected with the Twitter logo in this illustration picture taken in Warsaw September 27, 2013. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo GLOBAL BUSINESS WEEK AHEAD PACKAGE - SEARCH "BUSINESS WEEK AHEAD JULY 25" FOR ALL IMAGES - RTSJGEW August 18, 2016 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc has shut down 360,000 accounts for threatening or promoting terrorist acts since the middle of 2015, the company said in a blog post on Thursday. The microblogging platform has previously come under fire from Washington and third-party groups for not doing enough to stop accounts linked to Islamic State militants. But, since February, it has suspended an additional 235,000 accounts, after halting 125,000 accounts since the middle of 2015, most of which were related to Islamic State. Twitter said its daily suspensions of terrorism-linked accounts have jumped 80 percent since last year and that it has reduced its response time. Watchdog groups praised Twitter’s swift response to online celebrations from Islamic extremists glorifying a July truck attack in Nice, France, that killed more than 80 people. The company relies primarily on user reports to identify offending accounts, and said it has increased the size of the team reviewing reports. Although it says an algorithm cannot identify extremist propaganda, it relies on spam-fighting tools to help identify repeat offenders, including those who create new accounts when they are suspended. “Our work is not done,” the blog post said, adding: “Our efforts continue to drive meaningful results, including a significant shift in this type of activity off of Twitter.” <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Twitter update on efforts to combat extremism http://bit.ly/2bqjH1M Twitter, Facebook move quickly to stem celebrations of Nice attack (http://reut.rs/29Kan4F) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb in San Francisco and Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Bernadette Baum)
Since the middle of 2015 , Twitter has allegedly shutdown 360,000 accounts linked to threatening or promoting acts of terror , with 235,000 of those suspended from February 2016 onward , mostly relating to ISIS . Twitter 's actions to address extremism has brought praise from watchdog organisations , particularly its rapid progress in dealing with online celebrations by Islamic extremists following the July truck attack in Nice that killed over 80 people .