UK counter-terrorism police call on public to report online terror content

Britain's counter-terrorism police said on Saturday that it has opened reviews into 55 new cases this week as it urged the public to report incidents of online terrorism content to the police.

London: Britain’s counter-terrorism police said on Saturday that it has opened reviews into 55 new cases this week as it urged the public to report incidents of online terrorism content to the police.

The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) said it had received a significant number of referrals from the public reporting potential terrorist content online.

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“When it comes to tackling the use of the internet to further terrorism, support from the public is essential,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.

“Following last week’s horrific terrorist attack by Hamas, and the escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict, which has led to significant concern in communities in London and across the country, I want to thank the public for helping us by reporting potential terrorist content online to our Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit. These referrals have already made a significant impact and we are currently reviewing 55 cases,” he said.

According to Met Police, such reporting enables its Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) branch to work with tech companies to remove content assessed to breach UK terrorism legislation, making the internet less permissive for terrorists and safer for those in our communities who may be vulnerable to radicalisation.

“They can also lead to investigations being launched into those in the UK who are suspected of breaching UK terrorism legislation through their online conduct. If you see something online that you think is inciting terrorist violence or activity, report it anonymously via our Public Referral Tool. You can also download the iREPORTit app on your smartphone which enables you to report content anonymously and directly from a browser or an app,” added Murphy.

It came as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled GBP 3 million extra funding targeted at enhanced protection for the country’s Jewish communities against antisemitic attacks in the wake of the conflict in Israel.

The Met Police said there were 105 antisemitic incidents and 75 antisemitic offences between September 30 and October 13, compared to 14 incidents and 12 offences in the same period last year.

“There’s been a quite frankly disgusting rise in antisemitic incidents over the past few days. That’s not right,” Sunak told reporters earlier this week at an international summit in Gotland, Sweden.

“We have provided extra funding to the Community Security Trust to make sure that Jewish institutions – whether that’s synagogue or schools – have all the protection they need and the police have all the support that they need to ensure that our streets are safe for people from all communities, because we will absolutely not tolerate people inciting hatred, or violence or racist activity. Intimidating or threatening behaviour will not be tolerated. It will be met with the full force of the law,” added Sunak. The British Indian leader also called on Israel to take “every possible precaution to protect civilians” in its response to the Hamas attacks.