Anti-terror group blasts Facebook’s hate pages
ALL his life, wee James McCusker has refused to let go of his precious “blankey”.
So much so it has shrunk down to the size of a napkin.
Ever since his earliest days the five-year-old has been inseparable from his beloved piece of fabric, carrying it around the family home and taking it with him on holidays.
Mum Jen, 32, said: “From the first moment his wee chubby hands clutched his comfort blanket, James has refused to let it go.
“Even though it has whittled down to the size of a coaster James still seeks it out.”
The primary one pupil was born four months early and fought to survive the rigours of severe prematurity.
“James is autistic and the blanket has been a FACEBOOK has been slammed for failing to tackle disturbing pages set up to praise the killer of shopkeeper Asad Shah.
The pages devoted to sectarian killer Tanveer Ahmed have had thousands of ‘likes’ since he was jailed earlier this month.
They contain hate-filled posts about Asad Shah’s Ahmadiyya religion and are available for anyone to access.
Anti-extremist group Faith Matters has complained to Facebook. The organisation has successfully managed to get another support page for Tanveer Ahmed taken down.
However, a spokesman for the group said it was “deeply wonderful comforter,” added Jen, of East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire.
“It has never been far from his side and only got lost once when it fell out of his pram.”
Jen and husband Paul, 39, a hotel supervisor, have now given James a new blanket.
“He has taken to it,” said Jen. “He drifts off to sleep at night clutching it.
“Most parents will recognise how much their children love favourite blankets or toys. There is always one their kids cling to.”
Do you have a story about a childhood toy? Maybe you’ve had one all your life? Email jboyle@ sundaypost.com. concerned” that the pages for jailed Ahmed are still active.
It comes after social media groups, including Google and Twitter, were accused by MPs of failing to stop jihadists using their sites to promote terrorism.
Parliament’s home affairs committee said the use of the internet to promote terrorism was “one of the greatest threats” to the UK.
As such, MPs said they found it “alarming” that US-based tech companies each had only a few hundred employees monitoring networks with billions of accounts,
Last night there were calls here for tougher action.
Scottish Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said: “It’s simply unacceptable that disgusting pages like this continue to exist.
“It’s their website, therefore they’re responsible, and have to do something now.”
The gruesome killing of respected shopkeeper Asad Shah shocked the whole of Britain.
Ahmed, 32, travelled from Bradford to Glasgow to confront Shah, 40 – whom he had never met – at his store before pulling out a knife and stabbing him 30 times.
Ahmed claimed to have been offended by clips posted online by the well-known community figure, which he said “disrespected the Prophet Muhammad”.
The father-of-three was jailed for a minimum of 27 years at the High Court in Glasgow this month.
Social media firms have a history of being criticised for an apparent failure to tackle Islamic fundamentalism online
Critics have voiced concern at how slow the companies have been to take down pages praising terror – as was the case following last year’s attacks in Paris.
Fiyaz Mughal, of Faith Matters, said some of the failure was caused by failing to use expertise on offer to tackle extremism.
He said: “They need to work with agencies such as us who understand and know key terms that help identify such pages for takedown in the future.”
A spokesman for Facebook said: “We have a team of people looking at these pages, including Arabic speakers.”
Police Scotland is currently “assessing” the pages.