Terrorism ‘must be a wake-up call for technology companies’
THE WESTMINSTER attack must be a “wake-up call” for technology giants over their efforts to tackle terrorist content online, the acting head of Scotland Yard has warned.
Craig Mackey delivered a stark message to platforms which have come under fire for hosting extremist material, calling on them to grasp what it means to “put your own house in order”.
Facebook, Google and Twitter are among firms that have repeatedly faced calls to do more to detect and remove jihadist and other extreme videos and web pages.
Mr Mackey, the acting commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, was asked about the issue as he appeared at the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee. He stopped short of identifying companies, but said: “I think these sorts of incidents and the others we’ve seen in Europe are probably a bit of a wake-up call for the industry in terms of trying to understand what it means to put your own house in order.
“If you are going to have ethical statements and talk about operating in an ethical way it actually has to mean something.”
The debate flared up last week after it emerged that information on how to mount an attack was easily accessible in the wake of Khalid Masood’s murderous rampage.
Mr Mackey said the method of causing “large-scale carnage” using “little more than a vehicle and a knife” will “naturally lead to consideration as to whether there is more we can sensibly do to prevent similar attacks”.
He told the committee that, while detectives believe at this stage that Masood acted alone, the investigation to establish whether anyone else was involved in any way continues.