Javid to take on gangs and knife crime with ‘social media police’

AN ‘internet police’ was launched last night with gang culture and knife crime on social media in its sights.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid vowed to take on the web firms he claimed were ‘increasingly’ promoting harmful content.

Yesterday he announced that he would be launching a ‘social media taskforce’ – staffed by police officers – dedicated to removing violent posts and videos.

This 17-strong team will be operational from next month and sit within the Metropolitan Police in London, constantly monitoring social media sites.

Mr Javid, who held a meeting with Facebook and Google yesterday, said: ‘Social media is increasingly being used as a platform to incite violence, promote gang culture and legitimise the use of knives. I will not let this continue.

‘Tech firms have been making progress in tackling this harmful content, but more needs to be done. The national police social media hub will ensure a team of dedicated officers are identifying and taking action against gang-related content.’

‘Social media is playing a role’

The move comes after Mr Javid’s ‘online harms’ White Paper, which gave tech firms a legal duty to protect their users.

Duncan Ball, deputy assistant commissioner of the Met, said: ‘Social media is playing a role in escalating violence between young people and enabling content that glamorises or encourages violence and crime. This funding from the Home Office is welcome and enables us to continue developing our capability to tackle violence that originates online.

‘We will ensure that material that lures young people into a dangerous, violent life of crime and encourages violence is quickly dealt with.’

The announcement came after Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube were savaged by MPs as ‘cesspits’ of extremist content with a ‘don’t give a damn’ attitude. Labour’s Stephen Doughty told the firms their policies ‘mean nothing’ because the systems they use to catch problem content are failing.

Videos of the Christchurch terror attack remain in circulation five weeks on, and threats to MPs have been allowed to stay online. Labour’s Yvette Cooper, chairman of the Home Affairs select committee, told how she was easily able to find threats against her family on the internet.