Social mediaLieberman asks Twitter to shut down Taliban accounts

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is asking Twitter to shut down Taliban accounts // Source: sodahead.com

Senator Joe Lieberman (I – Connecticut), the chair of the Homeland Security Committee, has requested that the popular social media site Twitter shut down the accounts of the Taliban.

In Afghanistan the Taliban have developed a sophisticated online media presence, using Twitter to broadcast its latest attacks, post links to statements, and rebut NATO claims.

The veracity of their statements varies widely, but some accounts including @alemarahweb, a spokesman for the Taliban, has more than 6,200 followers and regularly includes posts that feature statements about the deaths of “cowardly invaders” and the “puppet” Afghan government forces.

Senator Lieberman’s latest request comes as part of a broader crusade to stop violent extremists from spreading their propaganda online. In 2008 Lieberman requested Google help prevent violent extremists from using YouTube to post videos of attacks on American forces in Iraq and other actions. In response the company tightened its hosting rules for videos.

Leslie Phillips, a spokesman for the senate homeland security committee, said, “Senator Lieberman’s efforts to eliminate violent Islamist extremism propaganda from the internet and social media has been a campaign of persuasion. He has written letters, for example to Google seeking the company to enforce more strongly its terms of service, which ban the sort of thing that we see from violent Islamist extremists.”

So far Twitter has declined to comment on Lieberman’s request, but initial reports suggest that the company is leaning towards rejecting the senator’s call as the State Department has not listed the Taliban as a foreign terrorist organization like it has with al Qaeda.