Twitter announced Thursday it has suspended 1.2 million accounts “for violations related to the promotion of terrorism” between August 2015 and December 2017.
In a blog post early Thursday, the social media giant said it is working to “expand and build upon our commitment to providing meaningful transparency about requests we receive to disclose account information or remove content.”
Twitter has faced scrutiny alongside other social media companies like Facebook and YouTube for how its platform was used improperly during the 2016 presidential election.
Of the 1.2 million accounts suspended between August 2015 and December 2017, Twitter said 93 percent were found by “internal, proprietary tools.”
Between July 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2017, roughly 270,000 accounts were permanently suspended for violations of promoting terrorism — an 8.4 percent drop from the same time in 2016, and a drop for the “second consecutive reporting period.” Twitter said that’s a sign fewer questionable accounts are being opened.
“We continue to see the positive, significant impact of years of hard work making our site an undesirable place for those seeking to promote terrorism, resulting in this type of activity increasingly shifting away from Twitter,” Twitter said.
As of October 2017, there were a reported 330 million active Twitter users worldwide.
