Tech companies 'risk another Southport' if extreme content isn't removed, warns home secretary

Terrorist worldly viewed by Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana could animate different atrocity unless tech companies instrumentality action, the location caput has warned.

In a missive seen by Sky News to TikTok, X, Meta and Google, Yvette Cooper and exertion caput Peter Kyle warned the imaginable consequences of leaving unsafe contented online person been "laid bare".

This week, the tribunal heard however Rudakubana "easily" downloaded an al Qaeda grooming manual and watched graphic footage of a violent weapon onslaught successful the hours earlier helium murdered 3 young girls.

The manual remains disposable online, contempt its inclusion successful a Home Office database of amerciable worldly that "may beryllium utile to an idiosyncratic preparing to transportation retired an enactment of wide unit oregon terrorism", the missive said.

Graphic footage showing the stabbing of Sydney bishop Mari Emmanuel besides remains disposable successful the UK contempt being removed by authorities successful Australia.

The location and exertion secretaries asked the companies to "swiftly region immoderate unlawful worldly connected this database disposable connected your services, including the worldly utilized by Axel Rudakubana".

"The easiness of entree to specified dangerous, amerciable contented is unacceptable," the ministers wrote.

From March, companies volition person to region amerciable content, including convulsive material, from their platforms nether the caller Online Safety Act.

From the summer, they'll besides person to instrumentality enactment connected contented that is inappropriate for children.

The 2 ministers told the tech giants they person a "moral responsibility" to instrumentality enactment connected this contented now.

"There is nary justification for waiting for laws to footwear in," they said.

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Axel Rudakubana received the second-longest beingness condemnation successful English history connected Thursday aft pleading blameworthy successful court.

The 18-year-old was jailed for beingness with a minimum of 52 years for the execution of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, successful July past twelvemonth astatine a Taylor Swift-themed creation class.