Hit irresponsible tech firms in the pocket, MPS tell advertisers

Companies encouraged to follow Unilever advertising boycott of sites that fail to tackle extremist content

‘If something ... impacts on their bottom line then that will prompt them to change their behaviour’

BUSINESSES have been urged to pull their advertising from tech companies that fail to take down extremist content following an investigation into five terror attacks that claimed 36 lives.

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said the continued refusal by social media firms and messaging apps to remove extremist material meant it was time to hit their “bottom line” by boycotting them.

It said the Government should take a lead role in persuading firms to follow the example of Unilever, which is considering withdrawing advertising from the likes of Facebook and Google for failing to act responsibly.

Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, last night refused to endorse a boycott im- mediately, saying he would respond to the committee “in due course”. Instead, he pointed to proposed new laws to allow terror threats to be disrupted earlier and to curb online extremism through new offences of viewing or streaming extremist material.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Whilst we have seen some progress, including ... technology that can automatically detect and take down violent and extremist content, terrorist material remains too easily available online. It is vital that companies combat this.”

In yesterday’s report on the 2017 terror attacks, the ISC said MI5 had showed “almost all attack planners downloaded, shared or consumed radical and extremist media of some kind”.

Counter terror police said that “in almost every investigation and in every prosecution, this material exists in the hands of a [suspect] or they have been streaming it or ... browsing it.”

Salman Abedi, the Manchester Arena bomber who killed 22 people including children, had also been able to manufacture his improvised explosive devices from online videos.

The MPS said: “The [tech] companies take a commercial view – if something harms their reputation and impacts on their bottom line then that is what will prompt them to change their behaviour. Previous efforts to persuade [them] ... have appealed to their sense of corporate and social responsibility and have achieved relatively little.

“Encouraging companies who advertise on the [tech firms’] platforms to put pressure on them to remove extremist content – with the threat of pulling their adverts if they do not – will have more impact on them.”

The committee highlighted cases where tech firms had refused to remove extremist content or cooperate despite government requests.

One tech firm claimed “violent and disturbing images” linked back to an academic site and to remove it “would compromise the quality of analysis the owner provides”. Another refused to take down a banned terror group’s site.

Whatsapp cited its “end to end encryption” for not revealing to police the final messages of Westminster attacker Khalid Masood who stabbed PC Keith Palmer to death.

The committee said it was among the first to castigate social media firms for failing to be more proactive in finding and removing extremist material.

But that was four years ago after the terrorist murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. Despite the firms hiring more moderators, MPS were frustrated they continued in many cases to be used as a “safe haven” for extremists and terrorists.

Although tech firms were developing algorithms to track down terrorist material, the ISC said: “It is disappointing that – despite a great deal of engagement – little tangible progress has been made in the four years.”

The criticism was backed last night by Yvette Cooper, the chairman of the home affairs select committee, who this week wrote to Twitter, demanding to know why extremist material from a proscribed far-right group was still available on its site. “It is frankly outrageous that these internet giants continue to profit off dangerous content, which we know can have fatal consequences,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

“These companies have been asked repeatedly to develop better systems to remove illegal material and have failed to do so. It is not good enough.”