# Social Media and ISIS

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-media-and-isis/737816>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 17, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-media-and-isis/737816 "2015-11-17T19:27:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-media-and-isis/737816/1 "2015-11-17T19:27:03Z")

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Are Facebook, Twitter and any other US-based social media company legally obligated to disable ISIS accounts and/or report them to Federal authorities? If they are, what law forces them to, and how would the First Amendment apply in this situation?

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**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-media-and-isis/737816/2 "2015-11-17T19:34:27Z")

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Fwiw, I’ve just looking at their monthly magazine.

It’s even features a Jihadist a month. FFS …

If you don’t mind a knock on the door from some gentlemen wearing suits and dark glasses it’s called Dabiq. Available via Google in the UK.

Probably not available in dentist waiting rooms.

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-media-and-isis/737816/3 "2015-11-17T22:01:01Z")

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I think it’s based on content, not association. If someone published a site that featured favorite Thanksgiving recipes from ISIS there’s no problem. When a site is explicitly recruiting people to chop off heads and blow things up that’s a crime and if they are aware the host should be obligated to report it to authorities.

The CIA/NSA/FBI/DHS or whatever 3-letter acronym you can think of might keep an eye on that recipe page though just in case.

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-media-and-isis/737816/4 "2015-11-18T01:40:16Z")

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Leaving the avenues open makes it a little bit easier for the NSA to track messages, so I don’t think Anonymous is doing us any favors by instituting their own foreign policy.

Back in the 80s I worked for a newspaper printing company and many of our clients were foreign-language newspapers, including one for Iranian expats. One of our staffers was an Iranian expat and knew it was a revolutionary rag, and she alerted our boss, who called the FBI to find out what our obligation was. The FBI staffer he talked to said let it go, it was more useful for them to track the money flow than to block the message content. I suspect social media is in a similar position.