Twitter Officially Sued For Sponsoring Terrorism

Before we get into the article here are a few news events to help set it up. November 23, 2015 Anonymous called upon everyone in the internet to contact Twitter and demand they do more to remove ISIS content from their web site. During a time when Anonymous members we literally take down hundreds of thousands of accounts it should not have to be our battle, Twitter needs to take some ownership/responsibility: http://anonhq.com/how-you-the-average-person-can-contribute-to-the-war-on-isis/

December 11, 2015 Turkey announces they have fined Twitter 150,000 lira (50,700$) for “praising terrorism, targeting the security forces and inciting hatred and violence”: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Turkey-fines-Twitter-over-pro-terror-content/articleshow/50150562.cms

To this day Twitter has refused to pay the fine and has actually filed a lawsuit of their own against Turkey alleging the fine is illegal. As a result Twitter may soon be banned in Turkey: http://www.reuters.com/article/turkey-twitter-idUSL8N14R1GD20160107

January 13, 2015 there is news coming out the USA that Twitter is officially going to be sued for “knowingly permitting” terrorist to use their services. The lawsuit is being filed by the widow of a United States defense contractor who was killed in a terrorist attack in Jordan last November: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/2-americans-killed-police-training-center-jordan-reports-n459701

The lawsuit blames Twitter for the attack based on the fact that: “For years, Twitter has knowingly permitted the terrorist group ISIS to use its social network as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds and attracting new recruits,” the suit says. “…Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible….material support has been instrumental to the rise of ISIS and has enabled it to carry out numerous terrorist attacks, including the November 9, 2015, shooting attack in Amman, Jordan in which Lloyd Fields Jr. (Tamaras husband) was killed”

The lawsuit has officially been filed by Tamara Fields in an Oakland, California court and asks the jury to determine if Mrs Fields is entitled to damages from Twitter, inc. The court document goes on to quote several experts on the matter such as The Brooking Institution whom once stated: “ISIS has exploited social media, most notoriously Twitter, to send its propaganda and messaging out to the world and to draw in people vulnerable to radicalization. Using Twitter, ISIS has been able to exert an outsized impact on how the world perceives it, by disseminating images of graphic violence (including the beheading of Western journalists and aid workers) while using social media to attract new recruits and inspire lone actor attacks.”

The lawsuit also sites the words of FBI Director who once said: “ISIS has perfected its use of Twitter to inspire small scale individual attacks to crowd source terrorism and sell murder.”

Twitter, inc has responded that the lawsuit is merit-less and in an official statement said: “Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear. We have teams around the world actively investigating reports of rule violations, identifying violating conduct, partnering with organizations countering extremist content online, and working with law enforcement entities when appropriate.”

You can read a full copy of the lawsuit here: http://jurist.org/paperchase/Twitter%20ISIS%20complaint.pdf

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