Twitter has verified an official English account of the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the platform’s pledge to fight hate speech. Multiple countries have designated the organization as a terrorist group.
On Saturday, Twitter awarded the Muslim Brotherhood a “verification check”, normally given to legitimate and prominent accounts on the platform. The reason for verification remains unclear due to Twitter’s policy of not commenting on individual accounts.
But under chief executive Jack Dorsey Twitter faced increasing controversy when it comes to free speech issues: prominent conservatives and an account dedicated to women’s rights in Saudi Arabia were suspended this year, for allegations of incitement or other reasons many critics called frivolous.
The Muslim Brotherhood account, however, has been openly aligned with another designated terrorist organization — Hamas — which seeks the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people and has been linked to numerous terror attacks. Back in April, Twitter shut down accounts associated with Hamas.
The now-verified Muslim Brotherhood account once compared Israel to South Africa’s apartheid system and reaffirmed its “deep appreciation” and “full support” of the so-called resistance movement Hamas and its military wing Qassam Brigades.
We condemn court ruling ordered by coup regime, reaffirm our deep appreciation & full support of the resistance movmnt Hamas/Qassam Brigades
— Ikhwanweb (@Ikhwanweb) March 1, 2015
RT @CollChris: This pic offended many Zionists – here it is again. #BoycottIsrael pic.twitter.com/ECnQtdNtwa via @tmoptimist #GazaUnderAttack
— Ikhwanweb (@Ikhwanweb) August 19, 2014
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood’s non-English account on Twitter openly celebrates the death of Jews and is widely shared among Twitter’s radical Islamists.
Brotherhood official Twitter account (Arabic of course): 3 Zionists were killed in the Taba tourist bus explosion. pic.twitter.com/rguXFEXfZo
— The Big Pharaoh (@TheBigPharaoh) February 16, 2014
Is this the free speech Twitter wants to promote?
