Following the Westgate Mall attack in late September, Twitter appeared to have taken steps to stymie some of Shabaab’s Twitter presence. While Shabaab members continued to use the platform, these accounts received far less attention compared to the group’s primary English account.
Today, the Shabaab Twitter mole appears to have returned (see update). A Shabaab official confirmed the new account in comments to Al Jazeera, and key identifiers match those of previous accounts.
As of this writing, the new Shabaab account has tweeted five times and garnered 735 followers. “HSM Press aims to create awareness of the Mujahideen’s struggle, further the cause of Jihad and promote the goals & visions of global Jihad,” one tweet read. “With renewed vitality, the 140-character journalistic guerilla warfare continues to challenge the mainstream Western narrative,” another claimed.
According to the account, those on Shabaab’s mailing list have “been sent an e-mail notifying them of the new account.” The account urged followers to “stay tuned for any further updates.”
UPDATE (11:45am): The new Shabaab account has been suspended.
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