Boko Haram Twitter Account Suspended

A Twitter account linked to the Boko Haram sect has been suspended by the social media company.

The account, opened recently, had only 19 tweets before it was flagged and brought down Tuesday. Before the suspension, the account was used to propagate messages from the group and its leader, Abubakar Shekau.

The account posted messages in English, Arabic and Hausa languages. The account also posted videos, hosted on sendvid, and images, hosted on Justpaste.it.

In its last tweet, the group claimed it was still in control of Baga, a town in Borno state, which the Nigerian military said is now fully under its legitimate control.

The account was also used to circulate images of the group’s attack on Gombe town two weeks ago. The images showed the group was skilled in graphic designs.

Twitter has in recent times stepped up effort to remove accounts linked to terror organizations after the increased use of the social media by the jihadist group, ISIS.

In the past, Twitter removed accounts associated with Al-Shabaab, a militant Somali group, Islamic Jihad Union, Indian Mujahideen, and Al-Qaida.

Boko Haram’s appearance on Twitter followed an increasing clampdown on its activities by Youtube, the Google-owned online video site, and Facebook. The group shifted from delivering its video messages to journalists through couriers to posting them on Youtube. Such videos are usually taken down by video site.

The online clampdown came as the sect faces suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Nigerian troops.