Terror fight moves to social media: G7

The G7 nations on Friday demanded action from internet providers and social media firms against extremist content online, vowing to step up their fight against terrorism after this week's Manchester attack.

British Prime Minister Theresa May won solidarity from her G7 colleagues at summit talks in Italy after the suicide bombing on Monday at a pop concert killed 22 people, including several children.

The G7 also vowed a collective effort to track down and prosecute foreign fighters dispersing from conflicts such as Syria, which May said showed the morphing nature of the threat.

"We agreed the threat from Daesh is evolving rather than disappearing," she told a news conference, referring to the Daesh group.

"As they lose ground in Iraq and Syria, foreign fighters are returning and the group's hateful ideology is spreading online," May said. "Make no mistake - the fight is moving from the battlefield to the internet."
May then headed home early from the summit to confront the "critical" threat still facing Britain.

The US, France and Britain's other partners in the G7 laid out their strategy in a joint statement adopted at the summit in Sicily.

They called on internet service providers and social media companies "to substantially increase their efforts to address terrorist content".

"We encourage industry to act urgently in developing and sharing new technology and tools to improve the automatic detection of content promoting incitement to violence, and we commit to supporting industry efforts in this vein including the proposed industry-led forum for combating online extremism," they said. - AFP

Source: Khaleej Times