Ikhwan Web. Photo: Twitter.

JNS.org – Twitter recently granted verification status to an official mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Islamist organization that has been designated as a terrorist group in its home country since December 2013.

The status was assigned to the Muslim Brotherhood operated website known as Ikhwan Web, which serves as the Brotherhood’s “official” English-language feed.

In response to Twitter’s decision critics accused the social media giant of legitimizing the group’s antisemitic propaganda.

“Verifying the Muslim Brotherhood’s Twitter feed helps further their narrative of civilization-Jihad,” US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), told the Washington Free Beacon.

“This maneuver makes the Brotherhood seem like a legitimate group while providing them cover to spread their radical version of Islam,” Cruz added. “I look forward to working with the new administration to expose the Brotherhood’s efforts to increase their influence in America.”

Kyle Shideler, director of the Center for Security Policy’s Threat Information Office, said Twitter’s decision is “deeply concerning.”

“At a time when Twitter is already facing criticism for banning individuals based solely on speech, Twitter has effectively lionized a group responsible for the burning of Coptic churches and the killing of Egyptian police and judiciary officials,” Shideler told the Free Beacon. “How is Twitter supposed to help defeat online radicalization when it essentially endorses the biggest source for Islamist radicals in the world?”

The Muslim Brotherhood is the parent group of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.