‘Westminster terror attack wake-up call for tech giants’
THE Westminster attack must be a “wake-up call” for technology giants over their efforts to tackle terrorist content online, the acting head of Scotland Yard has warned.
Craig Mackey delivered a stark message to platforms which have come under fire for hosting extremist material, calling on them to grasp what it means to “put your own house in order”.
Facebook, Google and Twitter are among firms that have repeatedly faced calls to do more to detect and remove jihadist and other extreme videos and web pages.
Mr Mackey, the acting commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, was asked about the issue as he appeared at the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee.
The officer stopped short of identifying any individual companies, but he said: “I think these sorts of incidents and the others we’ve seen in Europe are probably a bit of a wakeup call for the industry in terms of trying to understand what it means to put your own house in order.
“If you are going to have ethical statements and talk about operating in an ethical way it actually has to mean something.”
The debate flared up last week after it emerged that information on how to mount an attack was easily accessible in the wake of Khalid Masood’s murderous rampage.
At the weekend Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attacked firms over a “disgusting” failure to remove extremist material, while Home Secretary Amber Rudd will raise the matter at a meeting with technology bosses today.
Mr Mackey, who is leading Britain’s largest force until new commissioner Cressida Dick takes up her post, also discussed the “challenge” posed by secure applications.
A furore over security services’ access to terrorists’ communications erupted following reports that Masood’s phone connected with encrypted messaging service WhatsApp just before the attack. The acting commissioner disclosed that a “truly enormous” volume of digital information is being examined as part of the inquiry.
He said: “Some of that will be in secure applications. Some of that will be in a variety of formats that are more easy to analyse and work with.
“We work hard with the industry to highlight some of the challenges of these very secure applications.
“It’s a challenge when you are dealing with companies that are global by their very nature because they don’t always operate under the same legal framework as us.”
WhatsApp has said it is “co-operating with law enforcement as they continue their investigations”.
Mr Mackey also revealed that the Metropolitan Police registered a “slight uplift” in Islamophobic incidents on the day after the attack, but the rise was “far smaller than we’ve seen in previous events”.
Four people were killed and dozens more injured in the 82-second assault last Wednesday.
Kurt Cochran, 54, Leslie Rhodes, 75, and Aysha Frade, 44, died after Muslim convert Masood drove at pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.
The 52-year-old terrorist was shot dead by armed police after fatally knifing Pc Keith Palmer, 48, in the Palace of Westminster’s forecourt.
Mr Mackey described how the “cowardly” attack has had a dreadful impact on the victims’ families.
He told the hearing: “Terrorists have tried in the past to tear our city apart – they will never succeed.”
The senior officer added that the method of causing “large-scale carnage” using “little more than a vehicle and a knife” will “naturally lead to consideration as to whether there is more we can sensibly do to prevent similar attacks”.
He said while detectives believe that Masood acted alone in his execution of the attack, the investigation to establish whether anyone else was involved continues.