Twitter Tumbles After Shaked Threatens Legal Action

It’s not only the President of the United States who can send markets soaring or plunging with a single word; Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked can do it too.

Shaked’s warning that the government might take “legal action” against Twitter for failure to effectively counter messages that incite violence against Israel sent the company’s stock tumbling by 12.0 percent at $30.79 as of midday Tuesday, its worst drop in eight months, according to AFP.

“Through Twitter, the terrorist organizations promote terror and incite violence, including public activity that they carry out without fear,” Shaked told a conference in Yerushalayim. She branded the company “uncooperative, asserting that it’s not doing enough to prevent the misuse of its technology.

Twitter, she said, has become the platform of choice for terrorists:

“Terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah have gone over to operating on Twitter instead of [social media]. However, while [social media] has responded efficiently to our requests to remove content, Twitter is ignoring them,” she said.

Shaked did not elaborate on what steps might be taken against offenders like Twitter, but “such action, if taken, would clearly be unusual,” Eran Peleg, Clarity Capital KCPS chief investment officer, told Bloomberg on Tuesday.

Peleg rated the chances of making good on the threat as low, he said, but added, “the current government is nationalistic, and perhaps similar to the Trump administration in the U.S., is increasingly taking actions that would be seen as unconventional or extreme by historic standards.”