Twitter is the FBI's favorite new informant — more and more, law enforcement officers are using people's tweets as evidence against them in terrorism cases. They look at tweets, but also at retweets, follows, and followers, reports the Huffington Post.
In a slew of recent lawsuits, prosecutors have used defendants' tweets to back up charges. In one case, a 17-year-old pled guilty to sending out tweets encouraging followers to donate to ISIS through Bitcoin. In another, a 44-year-old was arrested for making statements "inconsistent with his statements on the Twitter account that had been linked to him," according to an FBI affidavit. One prosecutor said the cases demonstrate how social media users can be held liable for their posts:
"Those who use social media as a tool to provide support and resources to ISIL will be identified and prosecuted with no less vigilance than those who travel to take up arms with ISIL."
Of course there's the whole First Amendment thing: protection of free speech. According to FBI director James Comey, the difference is intent: "You have to manifest a criminal intent to further the aims" of a terrorist group. In other words, retweeting ISIS won't land you with criminal charges. Probably.
"It gets interesting if you're retweeting really nasty beheading videos and stuff," UT law professor Robert Chesney told the Huffington Post. "Really, that's not endorsement? What does it mean to retweet something?"
Until the laws are firmed up, play it safe, and don't RT ISIS.
