Police unit will block social media accounts

A new police unit is being set up across Europe to uncover and block social media accounts being used by Islamic State (IS).

The European police agency Europol will target the estimated 40,000 to 50,000 accounts linked to the terrorist organisation.

Working with unnamed social media companies, the unit – which comes into force on July 1 – aims to shut down the accounts within two hours of them being found.

Calls for more to be done to tackle online radicalisation have mounted in recent weeks after claims that Talha Asmal, 17, who was reported to have become Britain’s youngest suicide bomber, was groomed over the internet.

Europol said money used to fund IS would also be tracked down.