Security Minister Ben Wallace slams firms for failing to tackle terrorism after just 270,000 extremist images have been removed since 2010
MP blasted 'duplicitous' online firms such as Facebook and Google for selling users’ personal data yet refusing to help authorities
ONLY 270,000 extremist images have been scrubbed from the internet since 2010 as tech titans fail to help crackdown on terror.
Security Minister Ben Wallace blasted “duplicitous” online firms such as Facebook and Google for selling users’ personal data yet refusing to assist the authorities with investigations.
In an attack on trendy tech bosses, he raged: “Sitting on a bean-bag wearing a T-shirt doesn’t make you some freedom-loving hippie.
"They love their shareholdings, their super yachts and their billions.”
He called managers “ruthless money-makers” who thought nothing of flogging their users’ personal information.
He said: “But when we, the state, say we have processes and warrants and ask for that same type of data, we get this very twisted view of, ‘Ah, but that’s surveillance’.”
He said despite the removal of images “if you go on to YouTube you can be led down a path to watching more and more”.
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Home Secretary Amber Rudd said some firms were being more helpful than others.
She told the BBC: “We are making good progress with the companies who have put in place end-to-end encryption”.
“Some of them are being more constructive than others and we will continue to build on that.”
But she warned: “The area that I am most concerned about is the internet companies who are continuing to publish the hate publications, the hate material that is contributing to radicalising people in this country.”
She added: “What we are doing is challenging the people who are delivering end-to-end encryption to work with us so that we have a way of keeping people safe.
“Nobody wants terrorists to have a safe place to exchange information and to be able to plot their terrible atrocities.”
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