Failing to remove extreme content ‘risks other attacks’, Cooper tells tech firms
Failing to remove extreme content ‘risks other attacks’, Cooper tells tech firms
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Failing to remove extreme videos from social media could lead them to inspire further attacks like the Southport atrocity, Yvette Cooper has warned tech giants. The Home Secretary has written to Elon Musk’s X, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, TikTok, Google and YouTube calling on them to “urgently review” material accessed by killer Axel Rudakubana, which is still available online.
In a joint letter with Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, first reported by the Telegraph and seen by the PA news agency, Ms Cooper said the ease with which “such dangerous and illegal” content can be viewed was “unacceptable”. Rudakubana, 18, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years earlier this week after pleading guilty to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a dance class in Southport last July.
He also admitted attempting to murder eight other children and two adults, possession of a knife, production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.
Before leaving home, he had searched online for “Mar Mari Emmanuel stabbing” – the knife attack on a bishop in Sydney, Australia, in April last year. The video was removed in Australia but is still available to view in the UK, the Cabinet ministers said.
