CURB WEB GIANTS THAT GIVE TERROR A VOICE

As MI5 reveal they’re probing 500 active plots, Theresa May urges world leaders . . .

THERESA May will today urge world leaders to crack down on social media giants that refuse to co-operate on terror. The Prime Minister, who will say the fight against Islamic State is ‘moving from the battlefield to the internet’, is said to be infuriated by the feet-dragging of technology firms whose outlets host sick videos, pro-

vide a platform for hate preachers and allow the circulation of terror manuals.

As it was revealed that MI5 was managing a staggering 500 active terror investigations, Mrs May will tell leaders at the G7 summit in Sicily today that this

week’s atrocity in Manchester should mark an end to the softly- softly approach to policing the internet.

In the wake of the attack, it took the Daily Mail less than 30 seconds to find links to handbooks imploring extremists to murder children and target concerts, and providing instructions for building home-made bombs.

Last night, a senior government source said Mrs May would tell world leaders that technology firms had a ‘social responsibility’ to remove harmful content. Those who refused should be ‘held to account’.

Her call comes as Whitehall sources warn that the security services are facing an ‘unprecedented’ threat and have foiled five terror plots in the past two months. A source said MI5 was managing 500 investigations, involving 3,000 ‘subjects of interest’. On another dramatic day, it also emerged that:

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi allegedly took up arms in Libya during a teenage ‘gap year’ and was injured fighting alongside jihadis;

He travelled to Libya, Turkey and Germany before the bombing and bought his bomb rucksack for £22 in a Manchester branch of Sports Direct;

Just before the atrocity, he phoned his mother to beg for forgiveness;

Abedi’s sister tried to defend his actions by saying he ‘wanted revenge’ for Western military strikes in the Middle East;

Eight members of a suspected Middle England Libyan terror cell – including some of the bomber’s relatives – were being held after a series of dramatic raids;

But police fear accomplices could still be on the loose after raids in Manchester uncovered materials similar to those used on Monday;

The Queen visited some of the youngsters injured in the blast in hospital and condemned the ‘very wicked’ attack;

Hospitals were told to prepare for a second terrorist atrocity over the bank holiday;

Donald Trump lectured Nato leaders on their open borders as he appeared to link mass migrant flows to the Manchester blast;

He also pledged to end the ‘very troubling’ intelligence leaks about the bombing, after Britain took the unprecedented step of briefly suspending co-operation;

A major anti-terror power introduced by David Cameron to stop British jihadis coming back from Syria has not been used once;

Armed police began patrolling on trains travelling across the country for the first time.

While technology firms have already started tackling the threat posed by extremist material online, sources said Mrs May believes they must be required to do ‘much more’ to counter the threat of IS, also known as Daesh.

She will demand action in four key areas – forcing firms to develop technology to automatically remove hate-filled material; requiring them to ban users who post or share extremist material and report it to the authorities; telling them they must pass on material that could prevent an attack; and demanding they toughen up feeble rules about what constitutes ‘harmful content’. A source said: ‘The threat we face is evolving rather than disappearing as Daesh loses ground in Iraq and Syria.

‘The fight is moving from the battlefield to the internet.’

The political debate surrounding the attacks will be ignited today when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will controversially accuse successive governments of putting the country at risk by sending troops to fight abroad.

A Government source said last night a co-ordinated international action was the only way to force multinational technology firms to listen.

‘If we have unity at the G7 level, that will send a powerful message,’ he added. ‘ The availability of this material on the internet is obviously harmful. It’s linked to acts of violence and the less of it there is out there, the better.’

IT is a profoundly saddening betrayal of trust. With Britain on high alert and a major manhunt under way, significant amounts of sensitive information about Monday night’s bomb attack have been leaked by the United States.

Within hours of the blast, US television networks reported it was a suicide attack involving a nail bomb. They knew the name of the bomber at least six hours before it was confirmed in this country and details of how he was identified.

In perhaps the most egregious example, The New York Times printed pictures of the blood- smeared detonator and other bomb parts – which risk revealing what the police know about how it was made.

One of the great strengths of the Special Relationship has been the sharing of intelligence material between Britain and America’s security services, which for decades has made the world a safer place.

So quite why rogue agents in the CIA or FBI have been drip- drip leaking this information – despite warnings from Greater Manchester Police and the Home Secretary – is a mystery.

But more disturbing is what it reveals about the parlous state of America’s great institutions. For months, the US has been shaken by revelations about wars between the CIA, the FBI and the White House.

Indeed, there seems to be a catastrophic breakdown of trust between the executive and the security agencies. This cannot be healthy for the world’s greatest superpower, or for Britain.

As for this week’s leaks, the culprits should consider what their reaction would have been if, in the hours and days after 9/11, MI5 or the police had done the same.

When it comes to learning the lessons of the Manchester massacre, ministers will have to think carefully about how much we can trust our closest ally with our secrets.

Meanwhile, the past week has also exposed the urgent need to upgrade and extend counter-terror powers and ensure those already on the statute book are used.

It is an affront to common sense that, despite the Cameron government creating exclusion orders, not one of the hundreds of jihadis who went from this country to join Islamic State has been banned from returning. The Prevent programme – which is designed to uncover Islamists before they turn to violence – must be extended, even if it offends the bien pensant liberals who would risk potential terrorists going unchallenged.

Consideration must also be given to restoring control orders, which were shamefully watered down by Nick Clegg, and which restrain the movements of terror suspects, stop them using the internet and restrict who they can see. But nowhere is action needed more urgently than in tackling the torrent of terrorist poison flooding social media sites.

The day after the attack, it took Mail reporters just 30 seconds to find extremist manuals with instructions for making home-made bombs and urging would-be bombers to kill children.

So Theresa May’s plans – announced today at the G7 – to force Google, Facebook and Twitter to automatically take down the noxious material on their sites and to compel them to pass on leads which could prevent an attack, cannot come too soon.

Shaming these amoral, tax-avoiding multi-billion dollar web giants has failed, so they must instead face an unflinching international effort – and ultimately the full force of the law. IN a cynical and nasty attempt to exploit terrorism to score political points, Ukip claims that Mrs May ‘ must bear some responsibility’ for the Manchester attack. This stunt – and the party’s risible manifesto – only reinforces what polls suggest the public has already concluded: this washed-up party and its two-bit leadership are an electoral irrelevance.