Twitter suspended content affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, following a request by members of Congress.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Reps. Tom Reed (R-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), and Max Rose (D-NY), sent a letter to Twitter officials demanding the company remove all content from foreign terrorist organizations and affiliated profiles by November 1st.
Twitter responded, saying its policy is to remove or terminate all accounts it identifies as owned or operated by, or directly affiliated with, any designated foreign terrorist organization.
“If Twitter identifies an account as affiliated with Hamas or Hizballah, Twitter’s policy is to terminate that account. We are in the process of reviewing the accounts identified in your letter, and if we confirm that they are foreign terrorist organization accounts, they will be terminated,” the letter from Twitter to lawmakers said.
Twitter suspended the official English and Arabic language accounts of the terrorist Hamas movement, the English and Arabic language accounts of Hezbollah television channel and news service Al-Manar, the Hamas television channel, and news service Quds News Network, and other Hamas and Hezbollah affiliated activists.
“This is a win for America, our allies in the Middle East, and freedom around the world. There is no fair reason to allow terrorist organizations to use Twitter to spread their hate and threaten the people we care about around the globe,” Reed said.
Hezbollah and Hamas are designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) by the State Department, making it illegal for Americans to knowingly provide those organizations support or resources. The Treasury Department may also require U.S. financial institutions to block all transactions involving the assets of a designated FTO.
“There is simply no reason why terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, who have killed countless Americans and our allies, deserve access to U.S.-based social media platforms to promote themselves as sponsors of violent, radical, hate-filled extremism. With these first steps, Twitter is now taking measures to address the militant jihadist organizations on their platform. This is a big day in the fight against the global war on terror. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that Twitter, and all other social media networks, deliver on their commitment to standing up to these threats from foreign terrorist organizations,” Gottheimer said. “Our technology companies still have work in the global fight against terror, white supremacy, and disinformation campaigns.”