The Islamic State has declared war on the employees of Twitter after the social media giant blocked known accounts linked to the Muslim terrorist organization.
The death threats came through to employees of Twitter, including co-founder Jack Dorsey specifically, in regards to the company's policy of blocking accounts associated with ISIS and other terrorist groups.
"You started this failed war ... We told you from the beginning it's not your war, but you didn't get it and kept closing our accounts on Twitter, but we always come back," a message written in Arabic and addressed to Dorsey said on image-sharing site JustPaste.it. "But when our lions come and take your breath, you will never come back to life."
Twitter is following in the footsteps of YouTube by blocking all accounts that are associated with the Islamic State. The social media outlet's terms of service already ban anyone from using the service "for any unlawful purposes or in furtherance of illegal activities" but this most recent threat also falls under the term violation stating that Twitter will ban users who post "direct, specific threats of violence against others."
"For the 'individual jihadi' all over the world, target the Twitter company and its interests in any place, people, and buildings, and don't allow any one of the atheists to survive," the Islamic State post continues, as interpreted by Buzzfeed.
Twitter and YouTube have been used extensively to spread the propaganda of the Islamic State's terror campaign, including the beheading videos that have garned so much attention these last few years. ISIS has also taken credit for the slayings at the Paris newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, in January that resulted in the deaths of 11 people. The attack was done in response to the newspaper's depiction of the Muslim prophet Muhammed, and the event was threatened for several months before the attack actually took place.
Twitter's Sinéad McSweeney stated to The Guardian that the company currently has "in excess of 100 people" working 24/7 to monitor and track reports made by Twitter users. Twitter spokesman Jim Prosser told BuzzFeed News that "Our security team is investigating the veracity of these threats with relevant law enforcement officials."
Twitter has been used to not only coordinate attacks globally, but also right here in the United States by ISIS sympathizers. Last month, the terrorist group used Twitter to post a video asking followers to launch attacks on police and military targets in the United States, United Kingdom, and France.
In September, Twitter moved quickly to remove a new account created by Rayat al-Tawheed after his old one was banned. The man spoke on behalf of a group of UK-based pro-ISIS fighters and it's said that the social media company was able to delete the account within minutes of its relaunch.
Twitter Inc. and U.S. authorities are currently investigating the matter.
