A Twitter account linked to the
Boko Haram sect has been
suspended by the social media
company.
The account, opened recently,
had only 19 tweets before it was
flagged and brought down
Tuesday. Before the suspension,
the account was used to
propagate messages from the
group and its leader, Abubakar
Shekau.
The account posted messages in
English, Arabic and Hausa
languages. The account also
posted videos, hosted on
sendvid, and images, hosted on
Justpaste.it.
In its last tweet, the group
claimed it was still in control of
Baga, a town in Borno state,
which the Nigerian military said
is now fully under its legitimate
control.
The account was also used to
circulate images of the group’s
attack on Gombe town two
weeks ago. The images showed
the group was skilled in graphic
designs.
Twitter has in recent times
stepped up effort to remove
accounts linked to terror
organizations after the
increased use of the social
media by the jihadist group,
ISIS.
In the past, Twitter removed
accounts associated with Al-
Shabaab, a militant Somali
group, Islamic Jihad Union,
Indian Mujahideen, and Al-
Qaida.
Boko Haram’s appearance on
Twitter followed an increasing
clampdown on its activities by
Youtube, the Google-owned
online video site, and Facebook.
The group shifted from
delivering its video messages to
journalists through couriers to
posting them on Youtube. Such
videos are usually taken down
by video site.
The online clampdown came as
the sect faces suffered heavy
casualties at the hands of
Nigerian troops.
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