27,000 Pro-Islamic State Accounts Launched on Twitter Since James Foley Was Murdered

A investigation by Sky News has found that tens of thousands of new Twitter accounts that are sympathetic towards the Islamic State have been launched on the social network since journalist James Foley was murdered.

The research, which was conducted by intelligence firm Recorded Future on behalf of Sky News, discovered that 60,000 Twitter profiles expressing pro-jihadi views have been setup in total since May. And despite a crackdown from Twitter on accounts that posted graphic imagery or promoted “calls to violent actions” in the wake of James Foley’s death, 27,000 of these accounts were established after August 20th, the day after he was killed.

The analysis found that as soon as Twitter closed one account, another replaced it almost immediately, often with just a simple change of name.