Theresa May’s counterterror watchdog criticises PMs plans

Theresa May’s counterterror watchdog criticises PMs plans

Theresa May has been compared to a Chinese dictator over her plans to fine companies such as Google and Facebook for hosting extremist material online.

Mrs May's own counter-terrorism watchdog has blasted her decision to criminalise tech giants and suggested it is anti-democratic.

Technology firms, including Google, its video site YouTube and Facebook, have been accused of dragging their feet and failing to remove extremist material quickly.

The Prime Minister has promised action to punish them in the courts because of the number of cases where terrorists including ISIS-recruits and far-right supporters are radicalised online.

But Max Hill QC, the UK Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, said: 'What is t he appropriate sanction? We do not live in China, where the internet simply goes dark for millions when government so decides. Our democratic society cannot be treated that way.' 

Jihadist propaganda and terrorism how-to guides including how to make bombs can still be accessed online with just a few clicks. 

Max Hill QC said Theresa May's proposal to 'criminalise' tech companies could force them 'offside' and in a stinging rebuke said: 'We do not live in China'

Facebook has launched a new anti-terror scheme - but won't allow spies to view encrypted messages in WhatsApp, which is also owns. Mr Hill says Britain must not risk alienating companies

Dangerous content, such as the videos Manchester bomber Salman Abedi reportedly used to help build the device that killed 22 people in May, could be driven underground by the move.

This could make prosecutions more difficult, the new independent reviewer of counter-terrorism legislation said.

Speaking at the Terrorism and Social Media conference in Swansea, he struggled to see how criminalising tech bosses who 'don't do enough' would work, the Times reported.

'How do we measure 'enough'?' he said.

Mrs May will see the comments as a damaging blow to proposals which were the centrepiece of the Governm ent's plans to combat the rise of extremism, a key element of her election pitch.

Technology firms have come under rising pressure to do more about jihadist propaganda and terrorism how-to guides that can be accessed online with just a few clicks.

The option of fining the companies was announced following three attacks in Britain in just ten weeks â€" the Manchester suicide bombing and the two atrocities in London.

Facebook, Google and Twitter could face huge fines in the UK and France if they fail to remove extremist content from their sites quickly enough (ISIS propaganda, pictured)

Tech companies have come under increasing scrutiny to do more about jihadist propaganda

The Prime Minister also discussed creating a 'legal liability' with France's President Macron during a meeting last month.

A new law in Germany means companies which persistently fail to remove illegal content could be fined up to €50 million.

Mr Hill, who has led the prosecution on a series of Islamic State terrorist trials, argued for a different approach, however.

He called for 'ever greater liaison and co-operation between law enforcement and tech companies,' to stem the flow of dangerous extremist material online.

'Companies who make eye-watering sums of money from our everyday chatter need to be brought firmly onside, they do not need to be forced offside,' he said.

Mr Hill's predecessor, Lord Carlile of Berriew QC, agreed that fining the tech firms should be a last resort. 

Ministers are furious at the widespread availability of hate-filled propaganda online, and the ease with which impressionable youngsters can access detailed terror manuals.

Google, Facebook and Twitter all claim they want to remove such material from their websites, but it remains alarmingly easy to find.

Mr Hill called for 'ever greater co-operation' between law enforcement and tech companies

In the wake of the Manchester bomb attack, it took the Daily Mail less than 30 seconds to find links to handbooks imploring extremists to murder children and target concerts, and providing instructions for constructing home-made bombs.

Facebook and Google, which owns the video site YouTube, removed material when it was raised with them, but fresh links were quickly re-posted by extremists. 

The Prime Minister discussed the dangers posed by extremist material at last month’s G7 summit in Sicily, where she brokered an agreement between world leaders to embark on an international approach to clamping down on social media firms.

Downing Street said the Anglo-French initiative would see the two countries working with technology firms to ‘develop tools to identify and remove harmful material automatically’.  

 

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