Online Jihadis ‘are read widely in UK’
TERRORISM: Online jihadist content attracts more clicks in Britain than any other country in Europe, a new report warns. Analysts found Islamic State is still pumping out vast volumes of internet propaganda.
ONLINE JIHADIST content attracts more clicks in Britain than any other country in Europe, a major new report warns.
Analysts found Islamic State (IS) is still pumping out vast volumes of internet propaganda despite coming under intense military pressure in Iraq and Syria.
Experts say the group produces around 100 pieces of new content in an average week – but this is a conservative estimate.
The in-depth study by think tank Policy Exchange says tens of thousands of users access jihadist material online from all over the globe.
Researchers found the UK was the fifth most frequent location from which content was accessed – after Turkey, the US, Saudi Arabia and Iraq – and registered the largest number of clicks in Europe.
Concerns over the availability of terrorist material such as execution videos and bomb-making instructions on the internet have intensified after Britain was targeted by its fifth terror attack of the year.
In a forward for the paper, former US military chief General David Petraeus highlighted last week’s events at Parsons Green.
He said: “The attempted bombing of an underground train in London last Friday – using a device that can be built from instructions available online – merely underscored once again the ever-present nature of this threat.”
General Petraeus warned that up to now efforts to combat extremism online have been “inadequate”.
He wrote: “There is no doubting the urgency of this matter. The status quo clearly is unacceptable.”
The 131-page assessment finds that the decline of IS – also known as ISIS or Daesh – in the online space has been “significantly overstated”. It says: “For at least a year, the production of content has continued despite the death of key figures, loss of territory and ongoing fighting.” The report details how: In an average week IS produces over 100 new core articles, videos and newspapers;
They are disseminated across a “vast ecosystem” of platforms, file sharing services, websites and social media;
IS now uses encrypted messaging service Telegram as the core communication platform for talking to sympathisers;
Jihadists have not abandoned other platforms, with content also regularly accessed via Facebook, Google and Twitter;
Three in four people want big internet companies to be more proactive in locating and deleting extremist content, according to a poll.
The paper suggests the Government may wish to consider new laws to counter the possession and consumption of extremist material online.
Lead author Dr Martyn Frampton said governments and security services have been playing a “fruitless game of ‘whack-a-mole’” which is focused on removing individual pieces of content.
Meanwhile, two men who were fostered by the same British couple are being questioned by counter-terrorism police investigating the Parsons Green bombing, it has been claimed. A 21-year-old, identified as Yahyah Farroukh, was arrested after he finished his shift at a fried chicken shop in Hounslow, west London on Saturday night as part of the probe into Friday’s attack.
Both Farroukh and an 18-yearold man, understood to be the suspected bomber, are believed to have spent time in foster care with Penelope and Ronald Jones, who received MBEs for services to children and families.
There is no doubting the urgency of this matter. Former US military chief General David Petraeus.