Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
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EXTREME content including far-right racism and Islamist extremism is still being shown on social media sites despite calls to remove it.
Dozens of examples were found online even though they breached tech giants’ own rules, an investigation by Hope Not Hate found.
Disturbing Tiktok posts, seen by the Mirror, include videos of rightwing extremist Tommy Robinson and supporters of banned terror group al-muhajiroun.
Researchers also found examples of death threats, Covid vaccine misinformation, Holocaust denial and homophobic content on the site which is viewed by a billion people every month.
Social media experts warn extreme content is found across all the main social media platforms including Facebook and Youtube.
The Mirror revealed this week that almost 40 hours of video rants by hate preacher Anjem Choudary can easily be seen online.
Youtube removed them when he was jailed in 2016 but just one Google search provided 27 links.
Boris Johnson yesterday insisted that new online safety legislation will impose criminal sanctions on tech bosses who allow such material on their platforms.
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The Prime Minister told MPS the Online Harms Bill will make progress in the Commons before Christmas. It is expected to force giants such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and Tiktok to abide by a duty of care to users, overseen by regulator Ofcom.
Mr Johnson told MPS: “Yes, of course we will have criminal sanctions with tough sentences for those who are responsible for allowing this foul content to permeate the internet.”
Under the existing proposals, criminal sanctions are only available as a fallback at the discretion of a Government minister.
But the PM appeared to go further by suggesting that tougher punishments would be automatic for tech bosses who failed to act.
However, his commitment took some Government officials by surprise. One told the Mirror they had expected the bill to be “toothless” after ministers agreed to “water it down” in the face of threats from tech giants to withdraw investment from the UK.
His tougher stance came after Labour leader Keir Starmer had urged a serious crackdown, telling MPS at Prime Minister’s Questions: “It’s three years since the Government promised an Online Safety Bill but it’s not yet before the House. Meanwhile, the damage caused by harmful content online is worse than ever.
“We do need tough and effective sanctions, and that means criminal
sanctions. It is beyond belief that, as the Mirror reported yesterday, 40 hours of hateful content from Anjem Choudary could be easily accessed online.
“The Government could stop this by making it clear that directors of companies are criminally liable for failing to tackle this type of material on their sites.” The Hope Not Hate investigation, revealed by Labour, found evidence on Tiktok of rants by right-wing extremist Robinson, also known as Stephen Yaxleylennon, as well as from Holocaust denier David Irving and al-muhajiroun.
It also found multiple examples on Telegram – which has 550 million monthly users – of misogyny and homophobia as well as calls for politicians to be killed.
Following the murder of Tory MP Sir David Amess last week, MPS have raised concerns about death threats and abuse from anonymous social media accounts.
Joe Mulhall of Hope Not Hate said: “There is a systemic issue with the way in which Tiktok moderates its content. We found instances of racism, holocaust denial and far-right extremism on the platform with relative ease.
“But Tiktok is not alone in hosting content that promotes extreme hate. After a decade of trying to fix this issue, it has become clear that social media companies cannot be trusted to regulate their own content.
“We found countless examples of vile, threatening, and at times illegal content across every social media platform. Far too often, the algorithms used on social media
Commons threat level ‘substantial’
apps mean that people do not have to search for extremist content – it is recommended to them.
“These tech platforms are some of the biggest companies in the world, and yet they have continually failed to sufficiently address what is now a systemic and dangerous problem.”
Chloe Colliver of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think-tank said the gap between online and offline lines is narrowing. She added: “Terrorist, extremist and hateful content can both be a mirror of the uglier sides of the offline world as well as a trigger for offline actions.
“Online platforms are built to try to affect people’s behaviours and attitudes; it’s their business model.
“When tech companies target and amplify hateful and extremist content, it can make those views seem normal and popular.
“And tech platforms make harmful content more accessible to people already engaging in hate and extremism, as well as exposing new audiences to this kind of content.” It came as a Satanist believed to have influenced double killer Danyal Hussein was removed from Facebook and Instagram.
Hussein, 19, was jailed for life last month for murdering sisters Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, in a park in Wembley, North West London, in 2020. He was a member of an online forum set up by US black magician EA Koetting who had over 200,000 followers on Facebook and Youtube. Facebook has now removed Koetting’s page and Instagram account. Youtube said it was reviewing the content.
Tiktok said it had removed the content flagged by Hope Not Hate – although it had remained up after individuals complained.
It said: “Tiktok categorically prohibits violent extremism and hateful behaviour, and our dedicated team will remove any such content as it violates our policies and undermines the creative and joyful experience people expect on our platform. We will keep strengthening our tools to fight violent extremism and hateful content and welcome the opportunity to work with Hope Not Hate, as we already do with many others around the world, to understand evolving trends and help us to regularly evaluate and improve our policies and enforcement processes.”
pippa.crerar@mirror.co.uk