Twitter has finally bowed to pressure and removed the account of hate preacher Anjem Choudary – a year after he was charged for inviting support for ISIS.
The social media site had previously ignored repeated requests from UK authorities to take down his offensive material, jurors at the Old Bailey heard during his trial.
By contrast, it has taken Twitter a matter of minutes to tackle potential copyright infringement of Olympics coverage – sparking criticism from its own users.
Choudary faces up to 10 years in jail after he was convicted of inciting support for the terror group.
But it has taken till now for Twitter to act, last night removing the account where Choudary posted 10 tweets a day in an attempt to radicalise his 32,000 followers.
The decision comes as many of the site's users hit out at how quickly GIFs of the action in Rio have been taken down when harassment and abuse is commonplace.
Although Twitter has finally removed Choudary's account, YouTube is still refusing to take down all of his videos – which police deemed were inciting support for ISIS.
A YouTube spokesman said a number of his videos had been removed, but others featuring the hate preacher posed no risk of inciting violence.
She said: ‘We have clear policies prohibiting terrorist recruitment and content intending to incite violence, and quickly remove videos violating these policies when flagged by our users.
‘We also terminate accounts run by terrorist organisations or those that repeatedly violate our policies.
‘We allow videos posted with a clear news or documentary purpose to remain on YouTube, applying warnings and age-restrictions as appropriate.’
Meanwhile, Twitter said on Thursday it has suspended 235,000 accounts for promoting terrorism in the past six months.
Earlier this year, the social media giant announced it had suspended more than 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 for violating its ban on violent threats and the promotion of terrorism.
The company said in a statement posted online: 'While our work is not done, today we are announcing that we have suspended an additional 235,000 accounts for violating our policies related to promotion of terrorism in the six months since our February 2016 post.
'This brings our overall number of suspensions to 360,000 since the middle of 2015. As noted by numerous third parties, our efforts continue to drive meaningful results, including a significant shift in this type of activity off of Twitter.'
Twitter said there has been an 80 per cent rise in suspensions with spikes immediately following terror attacks, while its global public policy team has formed partnerships with organisations working to counter extremism online.
'We continue to work with law enforcement entities seeking assistance with investigations to prevent or prosecute terror attacks,' the statement added.
The announcement comes as hate preacher Anjem Choudary faces jail for drumming up support for Isis.
His official account is no longer visible online after his conviction was reported for the first time on Tuesday.
The 49-year-old amassed 32,000 followers and his Old Bailey trial heard how British authorities tried and failed to get his posts taken down in August last year and the following March.
The father-of-five was a leading figure in the since-banned extremist group al-Muhajiroun, and his followers have gone on to be involved in terrorist plots including the murder of soldier Lee Rigby.
The social media site had previously ignored repeated requests from UK authorities to take down his offensive material, jurors at the Old Bailey heard during his trial.
By contrast, it has taken Twitter a matter of minutes to tackle potential copyright infringement of Olympics coverage – sparking criticism from its own users.
Choudary faces up to 10 years in jail after he was convicted of inciting support for the terror group.
But it has taken till now for Twitter to act, last night removing the account where Choudary posted 10 tweets a day in an attempt to radicalise his 32,000 followers.
The decision comes as many of the site's users hit out at how quickly GIFs of the action in Rio have been taken down when harassment and abuse is commonplace.
Although Twitter has finally removed Choudary's account, YouTube is still refusing to take down all of his videos – which police deemed were inciting support for ISIS.
A YouTube spokesman said a number of his videos had been removed, but others featuring the hate preacher posed no risk of inciting violence.
She said: ‘We have clear policies prohibiting terrorist recruitment and content intending to incite violence, and quickly remove videos violating these policies when flagged by our users.
‘We also terminate accounts run by terrorist organisations or those that repeatedly violate our policies.
‘We allow videos posted with a clear news or documentary purpose to remain on YouTube, applying warnings and age-restrictions as appropriate.’
Meanwhile, Twitter said on Thursday it has suspended 235,000 accounts for promoting terrorism in the past six months.
Earlier this year, the social media giant announced it had suspended more than 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 for violating its ban on violent threats and the promotion of terrorism.
The company said in a statement posted online: 'While our work is not done, today we are announcing that we have suspended an additional 235,000 accounts for violating our policies related to promotion of terrorism in the six months since our February 2016 post.
'This brings our overall number of suspensions to 360,000 since the middle of 2015. As noted by numerous third parties, our efforts continue to drive meaningful results, including a significant shift in this type of activity off of Twitter.'
Twitter said there has been an 80 per cent rise in suspensions with spikes immediately following terror attacks, while its global public policy team has formed partnerships with organisations working to counter extremism online.
'We continue to work with law enforcement entities seeking assistance with investigations to prevent or prosecute terror attacks,' the statement added.
The announcement comes as hate preacher Anjem Choudary faces jail for drumming up support for Isis.
His official account is no longer visible online after his conviction was reported for the first time on Tuesday.
The 49-year-old amassed 32,000 followers and his Old Bailey trial heard how British authorities tried and failed to get his posts taken down in August last year and the following March.
The father-of-five was a leading figure in the since-banned extremist group al-Muhajiroun, and his followers have gone on to be involved in terrorist plots including the murder of soldier Lee Rigby.