UK ministers pledge to overhaul terror laws amid Southport murders outcry
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Keir Starmer says social media platforms must also act to remove extreme content that is inspiring violence. Terrorism laws will be overhauled and technology companies be pressured to remove a “tidal wave” of online violent content that is inspiring acts of murder, ministers have said amid growing anger over the Southport stabbings.
After it emerged Axel Rudakubana had accessed violent content in his bedroom before he stabbed three girls to death in July, Keir Starmer said it could not be right that “with just a few clicks, people can watch video after horrific video, videos that in some cases are never taken down”.
“You can’t tell me that the material this individual viewed before committing these murders should be accessible or mainstream social media platforms,” said the prime minister as he promised legal changes to allow attackers to be charged under terrorism laws even if they lacked a coherent ideology.
Rudakubana was 17 when he killed Bebe King, six, Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven. He had been referred to the anti-radicalisation Prevent programme three times before the killings. He was only seen once face to face by Prevent officials despite being referred to the scheme three times, the Guardian has learned. All three times Prevent decided it should not take on his case.
The number of people seeing content online depicting or encouraging violence or injury has increased year on year, according to Ofcom, the communications regulator. Eleven percent of users aged 18 and above had seen such material, up from 9% a year earlier.
