Counter terror police remove one thousand pieces of ISIL propaganda each week

According to official data from the Home Office, 55,000 posts, articles and messages promoting or glorifying terrorism were removed from the internet in 2015. Ministers have confirmed that 70 per cent of the content taken down was linked to ISIL. The data refers to actions taken by the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), which was set up in 2010 to tackle terror organisations using the internet to spread propaganda. The statistics also suggest the figure is rising. In its first year of operation the CTIRU took down 19,000 messages containing terror related content, rising to 30,000 in 2014 and 55,000 in 2015. John Hayes, minister for the Home Office said: “We have seen an increase in the scale and pace of terrorist communications by groups like ISIL, encouraging vulnerable young people to travel to conflict zones like Syria and Iraq. This government takes seriously the threat from online terrorist and extremist propaganda, which can directly influence people who are vulnerable to radicalisation. “Since 2010 over 140,000 pieces of terrorist-related material have been removed by industry from various online platforms at the request of the dedicated police Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit.” Furthermore, Labour MP Stephen Doughty, who was responsible for unearthing the data, said: “The revelation that as much as 70 per cent of extremist online content the government is having to take down relates to ISIL underlines the threat to our young people and schools from this barbarous organisation. “The government need to ensure that maximum attention is paid to supporting young people to identify, report and challenge extremist content online. “Social media providers also have a crucial role to play as do parents, teachers, youth workers and community leaders in supporting and empowering young people to cope with this threat.”