'SOCIAL MEDIA TO BLAME'
SAJID Javid has told social media firms “enough is enough” after they hosted horrifying footage of the New Zealand terror attack.
The Home Secretary hit out as YouTube said it was “working to remove” footage of the massacre.
Mr Javid said: “You really need to do more @YouTube @Google @facebook @Twitter to stop violent extremism being promoted on your platforms. Take some ownership. Enough is enough.”
His demand came after white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, 28, live streamed his rampage through two mosques in a horrifying video on Facebook.
He had earlier posted links to an antiimmigrant manifesto and images of his weapons on Twitter.
Labour’s Shadow Digital Secretary Tom Watson said the response was “not good enough” after YouTube “reviewed” a copy of the video before removing it.
And Downing Street said social media companies needed to act “more quickly” to remove terrorist content. Facebook said it “quickly removed” the video, while YouTube said it was “working vigilantly to remove any violent footage”.
Mr Watson slammed Google for not taking the video down from YouTube immediately. He said: “Google have contacted me to explain that they posted the ‘inappropriate’ content warning on the NZ massacre footage while they ‘reviewed the video’ for YouTube. Not good enough. They should have just taken it down, then reviewed it.”
Damian Collins, the Tory chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said that it was “very distressing” that the attack was live streamed on social media, and that “footage was available hours later”.
He added: “There must be a serious review of how these films were shared and why more effective action wasn’t taken to remove them.”
A Twitter spokesman said: “Twitter has rigorous processes and a dedicated team in place for managing exigent and emergency situations such as this.
“We also co-operate with law enforcement to facilitate their investigations as required.”
Yesterday, police patrols were stepped up around mosques in Britain in response to the atrocity.
Mr Javid held talks with anti-terrorism chiefs and security officials to discuss how to protect mosques here.
Security Minister Ben Wallace said they would work “to discuss what further measures we can take to protect our mosques and our communities from any threats here in the United Kingdom”.
The New Zealand shooting came as British security chiefs warned of a rising threat from far-right terrorism.