Jessica Guynn and Elizabeth Weise

USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter has suspended 125,000 accounts connected to the Islamic State over the past six months, the company said Friday.

It was the first time Twitter shared specifics on the number of accounts it has deleted.

Facebook, Twitter pressured to do more to halt terrorists

Twitter has been heavily criticized for not more effectively policing the presence of the extremist group. Pressure has heated up from the Obama administration and presidential candidates in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino County.

The Islamic State — also known as ISIL or ISIS — use popular Internet services such as Twitter and Facebook to spread propaganda and to attract and train new recruits. The extremist group has used Twitter to celebrate terrorist attacks and publicize executions.

It has been preparing sympathizers for this type of event for awhile, said Veryan Khan, editorial director at the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, a private firm that collects information on terrorism.

“’How to’ videos have been circulating over this month on how to create dozens of back up accounts easily including creating false working phone numbers for those using Tor. I think the bounce back for the Islamic State will be fairly effortless,” she said.

Twitter says it does not permit tweets that promote terrorism or make violent threats. It relies on users to alert the company about violations to its policies.

The San Francisco-based social media service said it has expanded its team to comb through suspect accounts and to root out automated accounts that publish extremist views to react more swiftly to terrorist content on the service.

"We have already seen results, including an increase in account suspensions and this type of activity shifting off of Twitter," the company said in a blog post.

Facebook says it also works aggressively to keep terrorist content off the service as soon as it becomes aware of it and has explored using technology to root out ISIL content. At the World Economic Forum last month in Davos, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg suggested spreading anti-ISIL content to counter ISIL on Facebook.

Twitter and other Internet companies have been reluctant to discuss the details of how they police extremist content because of the difficult judgment calls they must make in removing individual posts and accounts. That's especially true at Twitter, which has pitched itself as a place for open debate and free speech.

Tech companies have been reluctant to appear as if they are working too closely with government requests for data since 2013, when Edward Snowden revealed the extent to which the U.S. was conducting digital surveillance of citizens and non-citizens. Online privacy groups have mounted strong opposition to any measures that would undermine individual rights to privacy and free speech rights.

Twitter faces other risks. In 2014, then CEO Dick Costolo said he received death threats over the removal of Islamic State content.

"There is no 'magic algorithm' for identifying terrorist content on the Internet, so global online platforms are forced to make challenging judgement calls based on very limited information and guidance," Twitter said in Friday's blog post.

Twitter sued by widow for alleged aid to ISIL

Twitter last month was sued by the widow of an American killed in an attack on a Jordanian police training center who says the social media service makes it too easy for the Islamic State to spread its message.

A study published by the Brookings Institution estimated there were at least 46,000 Twitter accounts used by ISIL in October to November in 2014.

"If this signals that Twitter is finally going to become proactive and shutting out the ISIS’s of the world from their service, it’s a huge step forward. It will definitely help degrade the-all-too effective online marking campaigns of ISIS," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles’ digital terrorism and hate project.

Cooper, who is meeting with Twitter on Wednesday, said he has noticed Twitter suspending "a lot of accounts, but when you have more than 200,000 tweets a day from ISIS, being reactive isn’t enough."

“Twitter seems to have taken a page from Facebook and I hope will inspire some of the other companies," Cooper said.

Twitter’s move is “a very positive development,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-CA, the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

“ISIS has eclipsed al Qaeda as the foremost terror threat we face through its slick propaganda and sophisticated use of social media to amplify their message and recruit followers, both in the United States and abroad,” he said.

Eliminating “125,000 accounts propagating violence and hate is an important part of the fight against radicalism,” he said.

Follow USA TODAY senior technology writer Jessica Guynn @jguynn