New European police Europol to block ISIS web accounts

London, June 22: A Europe-wide police team is being formed to track and block social media accounts related to Islamic State (ISIS).

According to a recent US study, there were at least 46,000 accounts on Twitter linked to ISIS were active, many of which help to recruit new ISIS members, BBC reported.

The European-wide police team Europol will now work with unnamed social media companies to track the accounts from July 1.

They aim to get new accounts closed down within two hours of them being set up.

It is believed that up to 5,000 EU citizens, including people from the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, have travelled to territories controlled by ISIS.

"The remit of the new team, which starts its work on 1 July, would be to "identify the ringleaders online" Rob Wainwright, Europol's director was quoted as saying.