Think-tank reveals Britain is the capital for online terror with more jihadi propaganda accessed than anywhere else in Europe
- More than 100 terror manuals and recruitment videos posted every week in UK
- The think-tank called for independent regulation and even prosecution and fines
- Bomb-building guides similar to device used on Tube in London among videos
Web giants must halt the spread of online extremism or face prosecution, a major report said yesterday as the Daily Mail uncovered shocking evidence of the firms’ failure to act.
More jihadi propaganda is accessed in Britain than anywhere else in Europe, the Policy Exchange think-tank found.
It said that more than 100 terror manuals and recruitment videos and articles were posted online every week via social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) marching in Raqqa, Syria, in propaganda readily available on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter
The think-tank called for independent regulation and even prosecution and fines for internet firms which failed to tackle online extremism and radicalisation.
The study echoed warnings that terror manuals were still online, including guides to building a bomb similar to the device used on the Tube at Parsons Green on Friday.
The Mail found further terror tactics listing potential targets such as sporting events.
Theresa May is due to meet tech giants – which have been warned ‘enough is enough’ – at an anti-extremism summit in New York tomorrow. Calls for a tougher stance came as:
- Policy Exchange warned the West was not winning the war against online extremism;
- A poll of 2,001 Britons found 65 per cent of those surveyed did not believe web giants were doing enough to combat radicalisation;
- An investigation found internet shopping giant Amazon was selling bomb-making chemicals – and marketing them as ‘frequently bought together’ products.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: ‘I have made it crystal clear to internet bosses that they need to go further and faster to remove terrorist content from their websites and prevent it being uploaded in the first place.’
Yvette Cooper, Labour chairman of the Commons’ home affairs select committee, said it was ‘time we saw practical action’.
She said: ‘People are rightly fed up at how easy it is to spread dangerous extremism and vile illegal material online.
‘Whether it’s hate preachers on YouTube, guides to bomb-making on Google, details of anti-Semitic white supremacist rallies on Twitter or streaming of extremist violence on Facebook Live, it’s clear internet companies should be doing far more to intercept and remove extremist and illegal content.
‘If they fail to do so they should face strong fines and penalties.’
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: ‘I have made it crystal clear to internet bosses that they need to go further and faster to remove terrorist content from their websites and prevent it being uploaded in the first place’
In its report on cyber-extremism, Policy Exchange said failure to tackle the scourge would threaten security for decades and mean military successes in Iraq and Syria would be rendered virtually meaningless.
It recommended an independent regulator and system of fines – with possible criminal prosecutions – for failing to clamp down on the material.
Lead author Dr Martyn Frampton said security services had been playing a ‘fruitless game of whack-a-mole’ where they succeeded in getting individual pieces of content removed, only for them to appear elsewhere.
Retired US army general David Petraeus, a former CIA director, warned: ‘Social media platforms, internet service providers, and other tech companies clearly have central roles to play in the effort to counter extremist groups in cyberspace.’
The report found that three-quarters of Islamist-related terror offences in the UK over the past four years had been committed by offenders known to have accessed extremist or ‘instructional’ material.
MPs united behind calls for tougher action.
Tory Tim Loughton said web giants needed to be ‘smarter and swifter’ in taking down material, while Labour’s Stephen Doughty said the firms had ‘responsibilities to society’.
Google said it was ‘committed to being part of the solution’.
Twitter said it had suspended 636,248 accounts for promoting terror in 18 months.
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