MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti) - Several dozens of Twitter accounts used by advocates of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group have been suspended following the uploading to the Web of another video showing seized British journalist John Cantlie, NBC News reported Tuesday.
"It's definitely been one of the heaviest weeks [for suspending pro-ISIS accounts] ever," NBC News quoted historian and blogger Pieter Van Ostaeyen as saying. He also added that at least 77 pro-IS accounts he followed were suspended.
NBC News' terrorism analyst Evan Kohlman said the IS propaganda machine could not be destroyed this easily.
"This has somewhat disrupted their propaganda distribution mechanism, but not really. It just takes a few hours more for the media to go viral, but it always does. Nobody has managed to really stop ISIS from releasing new beheading videos," he argued.
According to web intelligence company Recorded Future, over 27,000 Twitter accounts supporting the IS were created within just two weeks after the footage showing the beheading of American reporter James Foley was released.
The IS group has proclaimed a caliphate on the territories it controls across Iraq and Syria. It is particularly infamous for taking hostages and threatening to kill them in protest of the Western foreign policy. The insurgents also use social media for publishing the video messages of their prisoners, or even their killings.
Earlier on Tuesday, the militants have released a third video showing John Cantlie, a British reporter, denouncing the US approach to counter-terrorism action. The group has also uploaded on YouTube the videos showing the beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. In addition, Algerian militants, linked to the IS, have filmed the execution of a French national Herve Gourdel over Paris' support for the US-led anti-IS airstrikes.
