Supplementary written evidence submitted by the Metropolitan Police (OHC0030)

During the Home Affairs Committee evidence session on 24th October you requested further  information about the level of coordination between social media companies in removing extremist and terrorist material from the Internet. In this response I will set out briefly the role of the national Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU); the progress we view social media companies as having made following the attacks of 2017; and the significant level of work that industry, policing and our partners must take forward in order to reduce the online threat further.

The CTIRU was the first specialist unit in the world set up to tackle the proliferation of illegal terrorist and harmful extremist material on the Internet. It forms part of the counter-terrorism policing network and works with online service providers to remove any content that breaches legislation, including the Terrorism Act 2006, and/or their own terms and conditions. The unit also refers material onto counter-terrorism investigations across the UK.

The CTIRU’s relationship with key social media companies has changed fundamentally in the past three years and, since the attacks of 2017, there has been a step-change in the level of engagement. Over 300 companies globally have taken down material at the CTIRU’s request and it now engages with the largest social media companies on an almost daily basis. The pace and scale at which extremist and terrorist content is removed from the Internet is unprecedented: Facebook report that between April and June 2018 it removed 9.4 million pieces of content related to ISIS, al-Qaeda and their affiliates and Twitter has stated that between July and December 2017 nearly 275,000 accounts were permanently suspended for violations related to the promotion of terrorism, with over 1.2 million accounts suspended for terrorist content since August 2015.

Furthermore, our engagement with industry extends beyond the removal of extremist and terrorist content to look at how technology can be applied more broadly to reduce harm. Examples of this include:

• The use of ‘filtering’ lists to prevent known extremist and terrorist online content from being distributed in schools, colleges and libraries.
• Re-directing those who are searching online for potentially extremist or terrorist material to alternative messaging.
• Negotiation with overseas content providers who will not remove extremist and terrorist material to ensure it cannot be accessed from the UK.

You will be aware that in June 2017 Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube formed the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) with the stated objectives of:

• Employing and leveraging technology;
• Sharing knowledge, information and best practices;
• Conducting and funding research.

I welcome the development of GIFCT and fully support these objectives. However, it is my understanding that key social media companies are not yet sharing with each other, at scale, either the content of the extremist and terrorist material they remove or the algorithms being used to remove it. Nor are they routinely and proactively reporting material which may be terrorism-related into policing. We will continue to work with online service providers to encourage information sharing and support appropriate referrals into law enforcement. The Committee may also be aware of the European Commission’s draft Regulation on the prevention of the dissemination of terrorist content online, to ensure “the same obligations are imposed in a uniform manner”, and similar online harms legislation under consideration here in the UK. Counter-Terrorism Policing are supportive of improved regulation and working with Government officials on the detail of their proposals.

Additionally, internet referral units have now been established in Germany, France, Holland and - through Europol - the European Union. The CTIRU will continue to work with international partners to bring about a coordinated operational response to what is, inevitably, a global threat.

Finally, there is a need to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the threat from global online extremism and terrorism. Measuring this threat will always be intrinsically challenging given the scale and pace at which the Internet operates. However, it is something we must address if we are to manage that threat as effectively as possible. I therefore intend to commission an independent assessment of the current online threat: both to inform our future response and to help gauge accurately the progress of industry, policing and our partners in tackling this critical challenge.

Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu QPM

National Lead for Counter-Terrorism Policing

6 December 2018