US Marines renew ban on Twitter, Facebook

The Marines had already banned the use of social media on military networks but issued a more detailed order this week defining which sites were out of bounds and noting possible exceptions to the rule, Marine Corps spokesman Lieutenant Craig Thomas told AFP.

"These Internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries," the Marine Corps said in an order posted on its website.

"The very nature of SNS (social networking sites) creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts opsec (operational security), comsec (communications security)... at an elevated risk of compromise," the order said.

Those marines whose assignments may require access to social media could apply for a waiver, it said.

Marines working in criminal investigations, press relations and recruiting have a need to use social media to carry out their duties and would likely be granted access, Thomas said.

But he said "social networking sites have always been banned in the Marine Corps."