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Abstract

ISIS's use of social media presents a new challenge for counterterror efforts. The organization aims to recruit followers and incite violence through social media. Given that this is a new medium for terrorist organizations, social media companies have come under fire for indirectly providing ISIS with farreaching platforms to spread its content. The companies, as well as national governments and international entities, have attempted to respond to the threat posed by such content. These responses, however, have proven ineffective. This Note argues that to effectively respond to and combat the threat posed by terrorist speech, national governments should adopt a new approach--an approach which holds social media companies responsible for aiding and abetting terrorist speech inciting violence. Identifying the specific threat as stemming from terrorist speech recruiting for or directly inciting violence narrows the scope of social media companies' potential liability. Additionally, the use of INTERPOL's existing informationsharing systems provides a means of maintaining a "bird's eye view" of terrorism's trends, while its National Central Bureaus provide nation-specific notifications of terrorist speech. Subsequently, national law enforcement should impose the aiding and abetting standard on social media companies that fail to remove the content identified by INTERPOL. Through this blend of international and national enforcement, freedom of expression receives protection through the limited scope of liability while moving towards improved national and global security.

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