The Obama administration is forming a new task force to counter online propaganda from Daesh (ISIL) and similar extremist groups in the wake of the recent attack in California, the White House says.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department are set to start a new task force in order to "integrate and harmonize" efforts to fight violent extremism in the US, Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement on Friday.

According to Price, the State Department plans to work with international partners inside and outside of foreign governments to post messages against ISIL and other violent groups in a "shift away from” sending them direct messages.

The announcement came after leading executives from US technology giants, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, met with senior national security officials on Friday to explore more effective ways to thwart terrorists’ use of the Internet for propaganda purposes.

The meeting was led by the White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Invitations were also sent out to attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, National Intelligence Director James Clapper and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers.

In late December, the Los Angeles Times published a similar report, stating that the Defense Department was weighing more aggressive cyber attacks against Daesh aiming to disrupt the terror group’s web-based activities.

The report noted that upon receiving an order from the White House, the Pentagon began to up its anti-Daesh cyber campaign in the aftermath of the San Bernardino, California, mass shooting that killed 14 people on December 2.

Alleged evidence found by US security agencies showed that the two shooters, Sayed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, were inspired by online Daesh propaganda to carry out the attack.

A 2015 report by Brookings revealed that ISIL had operated at least 46,000 Twitter accounts during a three-month period in 2014.

The Takfiris post about 90,000 Twitter messages a day, according to the Counter Extremism Project, a New York-based nonprofit organization.