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REX/ZUMA
World News

Blocking IS social media will have 'limited' effect

Nick Megoran, Christian and political geography lecturer, told Premier's News Hour it would have a limited effect and attention should be focused elsewhere.

The European police agency Europol is to set about trying to delete around 50,000 accounts linked to IS which are being used to recruit Westerners to fight for the terror group.

It's aiming to close down the accounts, which are often on Twitter, within two hours of them being created.

But Mr Megoran said: "If one site is closed down another is set up very quickly, that's the nature of social media.

"If this could help prevent young people being lured out to join Islamic State their parents and families would be very grateful.

"However I doubt it will, you'd need to look deeper at the reasons why people are joining."

Rob Wainwright, director of Europol promised the new unit would monitor social media to identify vulnerable people who may be targeted by extremists.

"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 told the Guardian.

It's thought around 5,000 EU citizens have gone to Iraq and Syria to fight with IS.

Mr Megoran added: "The possibility that such recruitment can be prevent by controlling social media, is, I think, rather limited."

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