Is Britian The Most Vulnerable It Has Been For 100 Years Due To Radicalising Content Online?

Ben Wallace, Minister of State for Security would like the Government to enforce tax penalties to internet giants who put profit before public safety.

Mr Wallace claims that obstruction and inaction by social media companies, whether it is by blocking access to encrypted messages or leaving extremist content on their sites, is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.

Calling these companies ruthless profiteers, he believes that the police and law enforcement are left to repair the damage done by radicalising content.

While internet companies have taken steps to tackle child abuse online, they "don't seem to be making the same effort" against extremism, Mr Wallace said.

"Because content is not taken down as quickly as they could do, we're having to de-radicalise people who have been radicalised. That's costing millions. They (the firms) can't get away with that and we should look at all options, including tax".

This has come only a short while after a parliamentary inquiry into fake news criticised Twitter and Facebook for failing to properly act against Russian attempts to influence British politics.

MP Damian Collins, chairman of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Select Committee, said Facebook had appeared to have done "no work" to fully root out accounts that could be linked to Russian-backed agencies during the EU referendum.

Meanwhile, Twitter was condemned by the committee for a "completely inadequate" response to the investigation.

In June, Facebook, Microsoft, YouTube and Twitter formed the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism to address the "critical challenge" posed by the spread of terrorism online.

Google has announced it will "significantly" increase the number of staff tracking down extremist, violent and predatory content posted on YouTube to more than 10,000 in 2018.