Britain’s security minister has told executives at YouTube, X - formerly known as Twitter - and Facebook to act speedily to remove “Hamas hate” content from their sites amid fears it may fuel radicalisation.
Tom Tugendhat said it was “incredibly important” that social media sites could not “be used to recruit, radicalise or spread hatred” in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel.
The message was delivered in a series of face-to-face meetings in New York and San Francisco attended by the security minister during his trip to the US last week.
Some of the Hamas fighters who killed more than 1,300 people in the Oct 7 attack live-streamed the atrocity on Facebook. Mr Tugendhat said the platform has acted swiftly to remove the footage.
One government figure familiar with the meetings said that Mr Tugendhat had delivered a “stern” message and expected social media bosses to act responsibly with regard to terror posts.
Mr Tugendhat revealed details of his trip and spoke about the escalating conflict in the Middle East in an interview with The Telegraph.
Tech executives may accidentally profit from terrorism
He said: “We were talking to tech executives. One of the things that came out in Southern Israel, as you’ll notice, was that there’s the absolutely tragic possibility, that I’m sure nobody wants, that some tech executives may accidentally be profiting from terrorism.
“And nobody wants that. Absolutely nobody wants to be capitalising on the pain of innocent Israelis and Palestinians or help Hamas achieve any of its objectives, which is to export division and hatred beyond the region.
“It was pretty striking that various social media outfits were extremely good at stopping it and were very responsive. Making sure that we’re working with them on this is incredibly important.”
Asked to sum up his core message to social media executives, Mr Tugendhat said: “It’s ‘make sure you know what’s on your platform, and ignorance is no excuse’.
“If your platform is being used to promote hatred and division, then you are part of a network that is doing harm.”
He added: “Nobody wants to go from ‘California dreaming’ to Hamas hatred. It’s not the attitude we’re looking for and it’s not the attitude they want to spread.”