Radicalism: Internet

(asked on 16th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle extremist propaganda online.


Answered by
Kevin Foster Portrait
Kevin Foster
This question was answered on 24th March 2021

We know terrorists and extremists exploit a wide range of platforms to spread their views and to incite terrorist attacks. The Government has been clear there can be no safe spaces for terrorists to promote and share their extreme views online.

To tackle terrorism online, the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), based in the Metropolitan Police, refers illegal terrorist content to tech companies for removal. Within the Home Office, we work closely with our international partners and engage with tech companies to discuss how platforms can best safeguard their users from terrorism, while also encouraging tech companies work together as one coordinated body through the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), to reduce the availability of terrorist content online.

On the 15th December the Government published the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation. This sets out the new expectations on companies to keep their users safe, including that companies must tackle illegal content on their platforms and protect children from harmful content and activity online. The major platforms will need to tackle legal but harmful content accessed by adults, through their terms and conditions.

The Online Safety Bill, which will give effect to the regulatory framework outlined in the Full Government Response, will be ready this year.

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