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1/14/2016 Twitter provides material support to ISIS, lawsuit alleges | Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/techpolicy/2016/01/twitterprovidesmaterialsupporttoisislawsuitalleges/ 1/3
Enlarge / Contractor Lloyd "Carl" Fields was shot
and killed by a terrorist in Jordan last year.
Twitter provides material support to ISIS,lawsuit allegesISIS uses Twitter to post guidelines and promotional videos called "mujatweets."
Court record
A US woman whose husband was slain in Jordan while serving as a private contractor is suingTwitter, alleging that the microblogging company is a "tool for spreading extremist propaganda" thatled to her husband's death at the hands of a terrorist last year.
The federal suit (PDF) was filed Wednesdayagainst San Franciscobased Twitter. It claims theservice is in breach of the AntiTerrorism Act, thatTwitter "purposefully, knowingly or with willfulblindness" provided "material support to thepreparation and carrying out of acts ofinternational terrorism, including the attack inwhich Lloyd Fields Jr. was killed."
The suit claims that for years, "Twitter hasknowingly permitted the terrorist group ISIS to useits social network as a tool for spreading extremistpropaganda, raising funds, and attracting newrecruits. This material support has beeninstrumental to the rise of ISIS." The suitcontinues: "ISIS members use Twitter to postinstructional guidelines and promotional videos,referred to as 'mujatweets.'”
Twitter said the lawsuit is meritless. Taking a pagefrom Google's PR tactics, the company said itwould only provide a response if Ars promised toattribute it to a "Twitter spokesperson" and not to any named Twitter employee.
"While we believe the lawsuit is without merit, we are deeply saddened to hear of this family's terribleloss. Like people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groupsand their ripple effects on the Internet," Twitter said. "Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism
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1/14/2016 Twitter provides material support to ISIS, lawsuit alleges | Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/techpolicy/2016/01/twitterprovidesmaterialsupporttoisislawsuitalleges/ 2/3
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deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear. We haveteams around the world actively investigating reports of rule violations, identifying violating conduct,partnering with organizations countering extremist content online, and working with law enforcemententities when appropriate."
The lawsuit quotes several US government officials that say Twitter has been a tool of terrorists. Italso noted a Brookings Institute study from last year.
In that research, Brookings estimated there were up to 70,000 proISIS accounts on Twitter and said46,000 "is our most conservative" estimate. The report came after the FBI issued a warning aboutAmerican teens being susceptible to ISIS recruitment tactics. Twitter says it removes tens ofthousands of terrorladen accounts and that it removes them after they become aware of them.
Twitter, meanwhile, is likely immune from liability under Section 230 of the Communications DecencyAct.
Fields' wife, Tamara, claims in the suit that her husband, a former Louisiana police officer, wascontracting with DynCorp International and assigned to the International Police Training Center inAmman, Jordan last year. In November, a terrorist smuggled in weapons and killed five people,including Tamara's husband. The suit, however, does not allege that any chatter on Twitter wasdirectly connected to Fields' death. Instead, it describes a terrorladen message the shooter sentfriends via the WhatsApp mobile messaging platform days before Fields was killed.
David Kravets / The senior editor for Ars Technica. Founder of TYDN fake news site. Technologist. Political scientist.Humorist. Dad of two boys. Been doing journalism for so long I remember manual typewriters with real paper.
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