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ONLINE TERROR FIGHT FLOP

Social media giants yet to make single tip-off over suspect terrorist material, says top cop

Mr Rowley said he wanted social media firms to work with police in the way banks had been made to co-operate on tracing dirty money

SOCIAL media firms have not made a single referral to police over suspected terrorist material, a senior officer has revealed.

Mark Rowley, chief of counter-terror policing, said extremists were still using some sites with impunity.

 Social media giants have failed to make a single tip-off to police over suspected terrorist material
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Social media giants have failed to make a single tip-off to police over suspected terrorist materialCredit: Getty - Contributor

And he said he was disappointed with the lack of cooperation from wealthy social media giants.

Detectives have previously laid into Facebook and Google for not taking down jihadi material.

The Met Police assistant commissioner said: “We get great support on individual investigations but when social media companies come across suspicious behaviour they don’t report it to us. They clean it off their sites but don’t report it to us.”

 Chief of counter-terror policing Mark Rowley said he was disappointed at the lack of cooperation from social media giants
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Chief of counter-terror policing Mark Rowley said he was disappointed at the lack of cooperation from social media giantsCredit: PA:Press Association

He suggested sites could have repeatedly taken down material from an individual “then maybe months later we discover about this dangerous person but we could have been tipped off previously”.

Mr Rowley, who retires this month, urged firms to consider public safety rather than profit.

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