FOX Business published an exclusive story shedding light on the FBI’s request of Twitter and other social media outlets to start doing more to combat terrorism. The FBI asserted that Twitter needs to establish entire teams to “troll, monitor, and review all terrorist-related tweets and content”. I understand how skilled American intelligence agencies are, but when the FBI starts asking Twitter to do more to combat terrorism, my confidence gets a little shaken.
Twitter already “unplugs” terrorist accounts and even sends notification to authorities of immediate threats. The concern I have in reading all of this is, why does the FBI need Twitter to do the job of intelligence agencies? If intelligence agencies like the FBI, CIA and NSA feel it important to have entire teams of people trolling social media, why don’t the agencies form those teams themselves? That’s what would make the most sense. The agents and analysts employed by these agencies are trained to know what red flags to look for when working in counterterrorism, not to mention their access to resources that are not available to the public. Twitter was not designed to be a counterterrorism watchdog and it is nonsensical to trust untrained social media trolls to gather counterterrorism intelligence.
Twitter and social media platforms, as aforementioned, do contribute to the fight against terrorism—within the boundaries that they do have. If there is any explicit threat, the information is provided to the authorities. The FOX Business report stated that “ISIS and their sympathizers deployed an estimated 46,000 Twitter accounts” in October and November of last year. Twitter has since suspended thousands of those accounts, but the sheer numbers make imposing a universal ban on these terrorism-connected accounts incredibly difficult. I’m not typically one to agree with Hillary Clinton, but the democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. secretary of state called for the banning of ISIS from having internet access, stating “‘We have got to shut down their internet presence, which is posing the principal threat to us.’” While I think that is a worthy statement, it is too idealistic. Blanket bans of terrorist organizations and their sympathizers could prove counterproductive, because “law enforcement officials have also said social media provides leads to catch terrorist networks”.
Information suggests that ISIS uses Twitter to recruit new members. Once people follow ISIS’s public profiles, they are then contacted via direct message to determine if they are a potential liaison to be used by the organization. If ISIS wants to move forward with the individual, communication are then switched to an encrypted messaging application so the conversation goes dark to intelligence officers. While the reports from Twitter prove invaluable, the FBI must gain court authority prior to acquiring Twitter contacts.
Perhaps the reason the agencies want social media outlets to form their own counterterrorism units is to more easily gain access to the records that law enforcement needs a warrant for. Admittedly, Twitter has proven useful as a mechanism for gathering intelligence. While this may facilitate the process of an investigation, I think that entrusting intelligence gathering to civilian social media employees could bring on more harm than good. Should Twitter and other social media outlets form these trolling teams, there is potential that sensitive information could become public, compromising national security. The individuals on these teams could even have their personal safety compromised. If the FBI, CIA, and NSA are wanting these teams to be formed, it would be in the country’s best interest for them to form them internally. The agents on those teams would be trained to see indicators or alliance with terrorist organizations and would be able to access confidential information related to their findings on social media. In addition, they would know how to proceed legally with a potential investigation and how to protect themselves if the need arises.
I do think that a law requiring social media platforms to report terrorism-related activity, as is the law with child pornography, is important. Entrusting Twitter and social media outlets to form teams to troll for terrorist related activity, however, is unsettling to me. Either way, it is clear that Twitter will be playing a vital role in the future of American counterterrorism.
Note: We at Liberty Cannon Media Group believe in representing many voices and solutions. We therefore occasionally publish columns and opinions that are not of those belonging to Liberty Cannon Media Group.
Featured image via GrowingSocialMedia
