Twitter suspended 377,000 accounts for promoting terrorism

The accounts were shutdown just in the second half of 2016.

Twitter published its tenth "transparency report" on Tuesday. 

In it, the social media company revealed the actions taken to counter extremism and protect press freedom in the latter half of 2016, a period where the company shut down "some 377,000 accounts" for "violations related to promotion of terrorism," according to Reuters

Twitter announced that 74 percent of suspended accounts were identified through the use of "internal, proprietary spam-fighting tools," and that less than 2 percent "were suspended after authorities complained that a user was violating Twitter's terms of service."

The company also stated that it is focusing on shining "a brighter light" when it comes to press freedom.

"Twitter received 88 legal requests from around the world directing us to remove content posted by verified journalists or news outlet accounts. We did not take any action on the majority of these requests, with limited exceptions in Germany and Turkey, the latter of which accounted for 88% of all requests of this nature."

What are the major updates in the latest report?

One of the major updates in the report is the addition of a new section to the already existing "legal removals report." The new section covers requests to remove content from verified journalists/media outlets.

Other updates include the addition of another subdivision that covers Twitter's "EU Trusted Reporters program."

Ending their statement on the report, the company promised to improve their approach and "give the world more meaningful insights and data to better understand the complex global issues." 

UK just banned electronics on flights after US

Five Arab countries will be affected.

The UK has announced a cabin baggage ban on laptops, tablets, DVD players and phones over a certain size, following a similar U.S. decision affecting 8 countries, AFP reported. 

The restrictions were announced late on Tuesday and the countries affected by it are: Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The move comes a few hours after a U.S. ban was declared.  

"The move will affect in-bound passengers from those countries on flights by UK carriers including British Airways, Easyjet, Jet 2, Monarch, Thomas Cook and Thomson flights," the Telegraph said.  

It will also affect people flying with foreign airlines including Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airways, Atlas-Global Airlines, Middle East Airlines, Egyptair, Royal Jordanian, Tunis Air, Saudia, the BBC reported. All carriers that fail to comply to the new requirements will be barred from flying into the UK. 

"Decisions to make changes to our aviation security regime are never taken lightly... We will not hesitate to act in order to maintain the safety of the travelling public and we will work closely with our international partners to minimize any disruption these new measures may cause," a UK government spokesperson was quoted as saying by the BBC.