On Thursday Twitter suspended 235,000 accounts that had been promoting terrorism over the last six months, as part of a continuing effort to keep people from using the social network for extremist causes.

Twitter said in a statement, “The world has witnessed a further wave of deadly, abhorrent terror attacks across the globe. We strongly condemn these acts and remain committed to eliminating the promotion of violence or terrorism on our platform.”

Twitter’s latest action brought the total number of accounts that the company has suspended to 360,000 since it began cracking down on terrorism and violent extremism in mid-2015. While Twitter has long championed free speech on the web and said that it was a “global town square,” its positioning has drawn bullies, racists and extremist groups to the service of spreading their messages.

While Twitter is trying to find a way to reconcile its free speech stance with how women and minorities can be targeted on the service, the company has been more clearer about combating terrorism. Daily suspensions for violating Twitter’s prohibition on terrorism are up over 80 percent since last year, with spikes in suspensions immediately following terrorist attacks, the company said.

By Prakriti Neogi