European Police team to hunt for IS social media accounts

London: A new European police team is being set up to track and block social media accounts of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

The police team will seek to track down the key figures behind the estimated 100,000 tweets a day pumped out from 45,000 to 50,000 accounts linked to the Islamist terror group, The Guardian reported.

Formed by the European police agency, Europol, it will start work on July 1, with a remit to take down IS accounts within two hours of them being detected.

Europol's director, Rob Wainwright, told the Guardian that the new internet referral unit would monitor social media output to identify people who might be vulnerable and those preying on them.

"Who is it reaching out to young people, in particular, by social media, to get them to come, in the first place? It's very difficult because of the dynamic nature of social media," he said.

Wainwright added that the team would be working with social media companies to identify the most important accounts operating in a range of languages that are "underpinning what IS are doing".

Europol believes that up to 5,000 European Union citizens, including people from Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, have fled from their homes to join the IS.

(IANS)