Tech giants were attacked today by Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer for failing to provide police with a single tip-off about dangerous extremists operating online.
Met Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley called the “very wealthy corporations” the online equivalent of landlords of extremist “tenants” who had “encouraged, directed, enabled and promoted terrorist attacks with the click of a mouse or tap of a screen”.
He said that “in the real world” conventional landlords would be expected to alert the authorities and evict those planning or inspiring attacks.
He was “disappointed” that police were not receiving such proactive help from online firms as he warned that extremism was now as great a threat to security as terrorism.
Mr Rowley’s comments, in a speech to a World Counter Terror Congress in London today, follow heavy criticism by MPs of tech firms including Facebook, Google and Twitter for failing to do enough to rid their sites of inflammatory and hate-filled content.
The firms have insisted they are trying to address the problem. But Mr Rowley said that while the tech giants did respond to police requests to remove extremist material they were not doing enough of their own volition.
Pointing out that banks reported suspected crimes direct to police, he added: “Sadly, I am not as reassured by the level of proactivity and commitment from communications service providers about tackling the broader terrorist threat.
“Online extremists seem able to act with impunity, occupying spaces owned and managed by legitimate – and very wealthy — corporations.
“I am disappointed that in the UK we are yet to receive a direct referral from them when they have identified such behaviour.”
Mr Rowley, who disclosed police and MI5 currently had 600 live counter-terrorism investigations, also called for other businesses to help in the terror fight by looking out for signs of radicalisation among their staff and encouraging employees to be vigilant about potential threats.
