The UK government is threatening to tax technology companies if they do not offer greater co-operation to security agencies in the fight against extremism. Security minister Ben Wallace has accused companies such as Facebook and Google of being "ruthless profiteers" who refuse to give crucial information to the government as it seeks to find potential terrorists. In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Wallace, whose department oversees counter-terrorism policy, said that tech firms were failing to help police identify people with extremist views by refusing to hand over data about their online activity. It also said 75 per cent of these accounts were suspended before they’d sent their first tweet. The proposal echoes that of a parliamentary committee that last year advocated fines on companies for failing to take down extremist content.
The UK government is threatening to tax technology companies if they do not offer greater co-operation to security agencies in the fight against extremism. Security minister Ben Wallace has accused companies such as Facebook and Google of being "ruthless profiteers" who refuse to give crucial information to the government as it seeks to find potential terrorists. In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Wallace, whose department oversees counter-terrorism policy, said that tech firms were failing to help police identify people with extremist views by refusing to hand over data about their online activity. The proposal echoes that of a parliamentary committee that last year advocated fines on companies for failing to take down extremist content.