May tells internet giants: Get terror manuals offline
GOOGLE and other internet giants were issued a stern warning by Theresa May last night after the Daily Mail revealed terror manuals were freely available online.
The Prime Minister said the websites had a duty both to prevent extremist material appearing online in the first place and to take it down once they had been alerted to it.
Responding to the revelations, Downing Street insisted that web firms ‘can and must do more’ to remove hate content on their platforms. But there were also demands from MPs and peers yesterday for new legislation to force internet giants to act – or face the threat of criminal charges.
Information on how to mount a terror attack using a car was easily accessible online in the wake of the Westminster atrocity. Reporters found a terror manual on using a vehicle to mow down innocent people within two minutes of searching Twitter and Google.
Before the attack, Google had already promised to take a ‘tougher stance’ on hateful content after boycotts from advertisers over their content appearing alongside white supremacist material on YouTube. Yesterday, Mrs May’s spokesman said the PM had told Google and other similar firms to prevent terror and hate spreading.
He said: ‘The fight against terrorism and hate speech has to be a joint one. The Government and security services are doing everything they can. It’s clear that social media companies can and must do more.
‘Social media companies have a responsibility when it comes to making sure this material is not disseminated.
‘We have been clear repeatedly that we think they can and must do more and we are always talking with them on how to achieve that.
‘The ball is now in their court. Let’s see how they respond.
‘It’s in everyone’s interest for this material not to be disseminated at all.’
Lord Carlile, the former Home Office reviewer of terror laws, said publishing harmful content online could be seen as an ‘invitation to commit a criminal offence’. He said: ‘I do not want there to be legislation but if people like Google do not respond to the reasonable requirement of removing extremist material then something will have to be done.’
Tory MP Damian Collins, chairman of the culture, media and sport committee, said web bosses could face a criminal offence of ‘ failing to act’ to remove terrorist videos and manuals online.
He added: ‘This radical material is incredibly serious.’
Amber Rudd will raise con- cerns about the spread of extremist material on websites such as Google and Twitter at a key meeting of EU ministers next week.
The Home Secretary will call for increased scrutiny over how internet giants tackle ‘propaganda’ on their sites.
An EU official said internet firms have resisted the creation of laws that would force them to take a more robust approach.
Officials from Brussels visited the offices of Google, Facebook and Twitter in Silicon Valley recently to encourage them to do more to tackle the issue.
Miss Rudd will also use the meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers to discuss the increasing threat of ‘lone wolf’ attacks by jihadists.
A senior official said: ‘As Daesh [Islamic State] lose militarily on the battlefield and things become a bit more disparate it becomes a bit more difficult to predict and we will potentially see more [attacks in Europe].’
‘They can and must do more’ ‘Difficult to predict attacks’