Internet giants who aid and abet terror

It’s almost impossible to imagine how anyone could be so twisted as to casually plant a bomb and walk away knowing that it could kill dozens of innocent people, as happened at Parsons Green tube station yesterday.

But we know from all too bitter experience that such dehumanised people exist in our midst. In the perverted minds of the men of terror, everybody in this country is a legitimate target.

Recent victims have included tourists on Westminster Bridge, children at a Manchester concert hall and people enjoying an evening out in fashionable Borough market.

the problem is that, step by bloody step, we are becoming inured to this evil.

Last week, scotland Yard revealed that 19 plots have been foiled in the past four years and detectives are arresting an average of one terror suspect every day.

Both stories made little impact in the media. And things aren’t likely to get better in the future. In a blunt assessment of the threat level over the next five years, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: ‘It’s not going to change.’

Yes, inevitable questions will be asked about this latest outrage and what we can do to prevent future tube attacks.

should separate carriages, which would contain a fireball, be brought back on all tube trains? On yesterday’s evidence, open-plan trains allow an explosion to shoot through the whole train in an instant, burning or choking everyone in its path.

But the real scandal that needs to be addressed urgently by the Government is that of the shameless social media giants who allow terrorist propaganda and bombmaking instructions to wash across the internet with impunity.

It took Mail reporters just seconds to find dozens of websites giving childlike, step-bystep guides to making improvised bombs, including one manual which was first put on the internet apparently by Al Qaeda in 2010 and still hasn’t been taken down.

though we don’t yet know the identity of the Parsons Green bomber, the overwhelming probability is that he made his explosive device using one of these online guides.

All attempts at persuading Google, Facebook and the rest to banish this vile terrorist material voluntarily have failed. the time for prevarication is now over.

Aiding and abetting terrorism is a criminal offence. It’s time these recklessly irresponsible firms were subjected to the full force of the law.