CURB WEB GIANTS THAT GIVE TERROR A VOICE

As MI5 reveal they’re probing 500 active plots, Theresa May urges world leaders . . .

THERESA May will today urge world leaders to crack down on social media giants that refuse to co-operate on terror.

The Prime Minister, who will say the fight against Islamic State is ‘moving from the battlefield to the internet’, is said to be infuriated by the feet-dragging of technology firms whose outlets host sick videos, pro-

vide a platform for hate preachers and allow the circulation of terror manuals.

As it was revealed that MI5 was managing a staggering 500 active terror investigations, Mrs May will tell leaders at the G7 summit in Sicily today that this

week’s atrocity in Manchester should mark an end to the softly-softly approach to policing the internet.

In the wake of the attacks, it took the Daily Mail less than 30 seconds to find links to handbooks imploring extremists to murder children and target concerts, and providing instructions for building home-made bombs.

Last night, a senior government source said Mrs May would tell world leaders that technology firms had a ‘social responsibility’ to remove harmful content. Those that refused should be ‘held to account’.

Her call comes as Whitehall sources warn that the security services are facing an ‘unprecedented’ threat and have foiled five terror plots in the past two months. A source said MI5 was managing 500 investigations, involving 3,000 ‘subjects of interest’. On another dramatic day, it also emerged that:

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi allegedly took up arms in Libya during a teenage ‘gap year’ and was injured fighting alongside jihadis;

He travelled to Libya, Turkey and Germany before the bombing and bought his bomb rucksack for £22 in a Manchester branch of Sports Direct;

Abedi’s sister tried to defend his actions by saying he ‘wanted revenge’ for Western military strikes in the Middle East;

Eight members of a suspected suburban Libyan terror cell – including some of the bomber’s relatives – were being held after a series of dramatic raids;

But police fear accomplices could still be on the loose after raids in Manchester uncovered materials similar to those used on Monday;

The Queen visited some of the youngsters injured in the blast in hospital and condemned the ‘very wicked’ attack;

Family and friends paid tribute to 14-year-old Eilidh Macleod, from Barra, in the Outer Hebrides, as she was confirmed as one of the victims;

Hospitals were told to prepare for a second terrorist atrocity over the bank holiday;

Donald Trump lectured Nato leaders on their open borders as he appeared to link mass migrant flows to the Manchester blast;

He also pledged to end the ‘very troubling’ intelligence leaks about the bombing, after Britain took the unprecedented step of briefly suspending co-operation;

A major anti-terror power introduced by David Cameron to stop British jihadis coming back from Syria has not been used once.

While technology firms have already started tackling the threat posed by the spread of extremist material online, sources said Mrs May believes they must be required to do ‘much more’ to counter the online threat posed by IS, also known as Daesh.

She will demand action in four key areas – forcing firms to develop technology to automatically remove hate-filled material; requiring them to ban users who post or share extremist material and report it to the authorities; telling them they must pass on material that could prevent an attack; and demanding they toughen up feeble rules about what constitutes ‘harmful content’. A source said: ‘The threat we face is evolving rather than disappearing as Daesh loses ground in Iraq and Syria.

‘The fight is moving from the battlefield to the internet.’

The political debate surrounding the attacks will be ignited today when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will controversially accuse successive governments of putting the country at risk by sending troops to fight abroad.

A Government source said last night a co-ordinated international action was the only way to force multinational technology firms to listen.

‘If we have unity at the G7 level, that will send a powerful message,’ he added.

‘The availability of this material on the internet is obviously harmful. It’s linked to acts of violence and the less of it there is out there, the better.’