MAY HITS OUT AT INTERNET GIANTS
THE British prime minister yesterday criticised giant internet companies for providing a ‘safe space’ for Islamist terrorists.
Theresa May vowed to crack down on extremism online, declaring: ‘Enough is enough.’
British sources last night said that social media giants could face multi-million pound fines if they don’t act over what Mrs May described as ‘the need to deprive the extremists of their safe space online’. The move is one element of a four-part strategy announced by Downing Street hours after the atrocity at London Bridge.
Ministers fear Britain is facing the threat of a new wave of copycat ‘DIY’ terror attacks launched by fanatics using vehicles, knives and other easily-obtained weapons.
A UK government source said the intensity of the threat was unparalleled, adding: ‘We have had three attacks in three months and another five plots foiled – that is unparalleled in counter-terrorism terms. People are watching attacks like the one in Westminster and getting inspired to try to do the same.’
Mrs May hinted at a growing threat yesterday, saying there was a ‘new trend’. She added: ‘As terrorism breeds terrorism and perpetrators are inspired to attack, not only on the basis of carefully constructed plots after years of planning and training, and not even as lone attackers radicalised online, but by copying one another and often using the crudest of means of attack, we cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are. Things need to change.’
She is said to be furious at the availability of terror manuals on sites such as YouTube and Facebook, and the ease with which hate preachers get access to social media. Speaking outside No.10 Downing St, she said it was vital to deal with the ‘evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division and promotes sectarianism’. She added: ‘We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed. Yet that is precisely what the internet – and the big companies that provide internet services – provide.’
Germany is already looking to introduce fines of up to €50million for internet firms that refuse to tackle the spread of extremism.
British ministers have preferred to use political pressure to persuade the firms to act. Last month, the G7 group of industrialised nations backed a plan to force firms such as Google, Twitter and Facebook to block extremist material automatically and report suspected jihadis. But, last night, sources said fines were ‘an option’ if pressure on the internet firms fails to yield swift results.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said it was time to consider fines against the firms unless they up their game. He said the internet giants needed to ‘step up hugely’ their efforts to drive hate off the internet, adding: ‘People feel the internet companies, these big giants, that seem to know no national boundaries, no national law at all, they resist any opportunity to tighten up, they are very slow to clear stuff up on the Net, when you get in touch with them they reject it.
‘We have to target the companies themselves. If they don’t co-operate my instinct would be, we need to think about serious fining.’
British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said ministers wanted to see jihadi material taken off-line, but also warned of the need to enable the security services to intercept encrypted messages sent online. Ms Rudd said slick Isis videos were moving away from urging would-be jihadis from travelling to Syria and instead encouraging them to ‘weaponise and attack locally’.
Rounding on Internet giants such as Google, which operates under the slogan ‘don’t be evil’, she said: ‘It’s not good enough just to say, do no harm. We have to get them to actively work with us to stop their platforms being used to radicalise. It’s two points: one is to make sure they do more to take
‘Evil ideology of Islamist extremism’
down the material that is radicalising people; and secondly to help work with us to limit the amount of endto-end encryption that otherwise terrorists can use to plot.’
Facebook last night rejected claims it is dragging its feet. In a statement, the firm said: ‘We want Facebook to be a hostile environment for terrorists. We work aggressively to remove terrorist content.’ Mrs May also signalled a break with multiculturalism, saying it was time to end the segregation in some parts of Britain.
She said there was ‘far too much tolerance of extremism in our country’. She said councils and government agencies needed to end political correctness and have ‘some difficult, and often embarrassing, conversations’ with communities.
She also appeared to acknowledge that the security services need to adapt a strategy that was drawn up to deal with complex bomb plots.
‘As the nature of the threat we face becomes more complex, more fragmented, more hidden, the strategy needs to keep up.’