Steven Paterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steven Paterson on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with social media firms on countering radicalisation.

Mr John Hayes

Extremist and terrorist organisations, notably social media sites, are exploiting the internet to disseminate propaganda and recruit individuals to their groups or to support their aims. Some vulnerable individuals, including young people are being misled by this damaging propaganda.

We are working closely with responsible internet and social media companies to take robust action against terrorist and extremist material and safeguard users. Since 2010 over 140,000 pieces of terrorist-related material have been removed by industry from various online platforms at the request of the dedicated police Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). Approximately 58,000 removals were made in 2015 alone.