U.K. Panel Says Internet Giants 'consciously Failing' To Tackle Extremism On Web

(RTTNews) - The U.K Home Affairs Committee said that social media giants like Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR) and Google are "consciously failing" to combat the use of their sites to promote terrorism and killings. The networks have become "the vehicle of choice in spreading propaganda and the recruiting platforms for terrorism".

The companies have teams of only a few hundred employees to monitor networks of billions of accounts and Twitter does not even proactively report extremist content to law enforcement agencies. If they continue to fail to tackle this issue and allow their platforms to become the 'Wild West' of the internet, it will erode their reputations, Parliament's Home Affairs Committee said in a report published in London Thursday.

Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, Chair of the Committee, said, " Huge corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter, with their billion dollar incomes, are consciously failing to tackle this threat and passing the buck by hiding behind their supranational legal status, despite knowing that their sites are being used by the instigators of terror. Even when someone is convicted, such as Anjem Choudary, their videos and hateful speeches continue to influence people through these websites. The companies' failure to tackle this threat has left some parts of the internet ungoverned, unregulated and lawless."

The companies defended their record on tackling terrorism, saying they have blocked accounts and removed inflammatory content.

It is estimated that 800 UK-linked fighters have travelled to Syria and Iraq since the conflicts began there. 50% of these foreign fighters are thought to have returned to the UK, the panel said, highlighting the need to stop the radicalization of Muslims online.Terrorism-related arrests in the UK were 35% higher in 2015 than in 2010.