Isis Twitter activity declines by 40% after crackdown - but the battle continues

According to research, 95 per cent of Twitter users linked to Isis simply set up new accounts after getting banned

An Iraqi Shiite fighter removes the flag of Isis from a telephone pole in the desert of Samarra (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

Isis activity on Twitter has plummeted by 40 per cent since last summer, after a crackdown on accounts linked to the extremist group.

However, new accounts often spring up as fast as Twitter can shut them down, leaving the two parties stuck in a seemingly never-ending battle.

According to figures published by The Wall Street Journal's Christopher S. Stewart and Mark Maremont, which were gathered by threat intelligence company Recorded Future, Twitter's crackdown on Isis-related activity appears to have paid off.

The number of active Twitter accounts which have used any of seven hashtags associated with Isis propaganda declined from an average of 24,271 in August 2015 to around 14,700 in March 2016.

According to the research, the number of Isis accounts which use these hashtags peaked at 25,842 in mid-May last year. By the end of March this year, that figure had dropped to 11,332.

Isis-supporting accounts are also currently being shut down faster than ever before - the figures show that the median lifespan of one of these accounts, from creation to deletion, is less than two days, compared to a number of weeks last summer.

The sharp decline is mostly down to an ongoing crackdown against Isis on the platform, which Twitter was spurred into launching after pressure from anti-extremist groups and governments around the world.

According to a statement issued by Twitter in February, more than 125,000 separate terror-related accounts had been shut down since the middle of 2015, mostly by a beefed-up team of moderation specialists the company has established at its bases in the US and Ireland.

Despite Twitter's best efforts, the owners of deleted accounts typically just set up new accounts straight away, often regaining their former audience quickly after changing their usernames. According to research from terror-monitoring group Kronos Advisory, which was referenced by the Post, around 95 per cent of these users return to Twitter after being banned.

But the figures show that Twitter's actions may be hindering Isis' ability to recruit, communicate and spread propaganda on the platform. Other online services, like encrypted chat app Telegram, are taking similar measures against extremists by deleting certain group chat channels.

Threats of violence against Twitter employees (including CEO Jack Dorsey) have been made in the past, but the group's position on public social networks like Twitter may be mirroring its apparent decline in the Middle East, where military opposition has caused it to lose important ground in recent months.