The widow of a US Army veteran killed by a gunman in Jordan has sued Twitter for allowing ISIS accounts on the website.
According to a lawsuit filed in California on Wednesday, Tamara Fields accuses Twitter of helping the ‘explosive growth’ of ISIS.
The suit states that the terrorist group claimed responsibility for the November 9 attack on a police station in Amman, Jordan in which Tamara’s husband Lloyd Carl Fields, Jr. and four others were killed.
Related: 5 Twitter problems that need fixing
According to the Wall Street Journal, court documents explain the reason for the lawsuit as follows: “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.
“This material support has been instrumental to the rise of ISIS and has enabled it to carry out numerous terrorist attacks.”
ISIS has used social media to spread propaganda and boast about its attacks for some time.
Related: Best Android Apps
The terrorist group has had success using social media as a recruiting tool, to the extent that hacking group Anonymous vowed to disable all ISIS-affiliated accounts on Twitter following last year’s Paris attacks.
Court documents also claim that there were roughly 70,000 ISIS-related Twitter accounts as of December 2014 and that Twitter has not done enough to prevent terrorists using its site.
A Twitter spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal: “While we believe the lawsuit is without merit, we are deeply saddened to hear of this family’s terrible loss.
“Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear.”
The company has removed terrorist and terrorist-affiliated accounts when they have been highlighted, although it does not actively search for them.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
