Al Shabab finally goes too far for Twitter

It appears that HSMPRess, the obnoxious and occasionally horrifying Twitter feed of al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group Al Shabab has been suspended. (A few possible replacement feeds have already emerged though it’s difficult to tell which ones are actually linked to the group.) The Atlantic‘s Brian Fung posts chached images of the feeds last messages, ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

It appears that HSMPRess, the obnoxious and occasionally horrifying Twitter feed of al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group Al Shabab has been suspended. (A few possible replacement feeds have already emerged though it's difficult to tell which ones are actually linked to the group.) The Atlantic's Brian Fung posts chached images of the feeds last messages, which were threats to execute Kenyan prisoners. The Kenyan government has denied requesting the takedown, however. 

It appears that HSMPRess, the obnoxious and occasionally horrifying Twitter feed of al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group Al Shabab has been suspended. (A few possible replacement feeds have already emerged though it’s difficult to tell which ones are actually linked to the group.) The Atlantic‘s Brian Fung posts chached images of the feeds last messages, which were threats to execute Kenyan prisoners. The Kenyan government has denied requesting the takedown, however. 

As I wrote recently, much of what was written on the feed could be construed as threatening violence, putting it in violation of Twitters terms of use. But apparently the increasingly specific death threats of recent days went too far.   

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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