Ministers’ failure to ban far-right extremist groups is undermining the fight against online propaganda, a report has suggested.
National Action and its spin-offs Scottish Dawn and NS131 are the only neo-Nazi organisations proscribed as terrorist groups in the UK.
The ban makes sharing their material a terror offence punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment, whereas hateful propaganda from other groups is met with far lower sentences.
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A report by the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) warned that posts by non-proscribed groups may not be properly monitored or taken down by social media companies.
Nikita Malik, director of the think tank’s Centre on Radicalisation and Terrorism, said some companies rely on government lists of banned organisations when deciding what to remove.
“The lack of far-right groups subject to proscription in the UK, when compared to Islamist groups, has left the authorities reliant on hate crime legislation rather than specific terrorist offences which carry heftier sentences,” she added.
UK terror plots that were foiled by security services
Show all 14
UK terror plots that were foiled by security services
1/14 Oxford Street terror plot
Lewis Ludlow was jailed for life in March 2019 for planning a 'spectacular multi-victim attack' on Oxford Street in London. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last year to plotting an attack in the UK and funding Isis abroad
EPA
2/14 Rosie Cooper MP plot
Jack Renshaw admitted plotting to kill his local Labour MP with a machete in June 2018. Renshaw bought a 19in machete intending to use it to kill Rosie Cooper, MP for West Lancashire. His plan was foiled by whistleblower Robbie Mullen, who heard of the plot in a meeting of alleged and convicted National Action members in the Friar Penketh pub in Warrington
Hope Not Hate
3/14 'Poppy terror plot'
Nadir Ali Sayed, his cousin Yousaf Shah Syed, and Haseeb Hamayoon, were charged with terrorism offences over an alleged plot to behead a member of public.
The trio were arrested in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 6 November - three days before Remembrance Sunday in 2014
PA
4/14 National Action arrests
Following the arrest of six men in 2018 on suspicion that they were members of the banned far-right terror group National Action, two were jailed. Christopher Lythgoe was found to be leader of the banned group and jailed for eight years, while Matthew Hankinson was jailed for six years. While it was found that Lythgoe did not encourage Jack Renshaw's plot to kill a Labour MP, the judge noted that he "did nothing to stop or discourage" the attack
PA
5/14 Shane Fletcher
A self-described 'loner', Fletcher planned to kill members of the public at a football match in his home town of Workington. He had been referred to the government's Prevent programme nine moths prior to his arrest after stating that he dreamed about "shooting up a mosque"
PA
6/14 Heathrow airport arrests
A 19-year-old from Coventry man was arrested at London's Heathrow airport on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism in November 2014
7/14 Extradition of Abu Hamza
Radical muslim cleric Abu Hamza was extradited to the US in 2014 after having been jailed in the UK for 7 years for 11 offences under the Terrorism Act
Getty
8/14 South East Counter Terrorism Unit arrests
Six people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a series of dawn raids in the south of England in October 2014. Three men and three women were detained separately in two properties in Portsmouth, one in Farnborough and one in Greenwich following an operation by the South East Counter Terrorism Unit. Counter-terror officers said they had disrupted what was believed to be the early stages of what could have turned into a “significant plot”
PA
9/14 October 2014 arrests
Three men were arrested in central London on 13 October as part of an investigation into Islamist-related terrorism. The arrests come nearly a week after five men were arrested in dawn raids that Whitehall officials said “may have foiled the early stages” of a plan to attack the UK
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty
10/14 Anjem Choudary arrest
Anjem Choudary, the radical activist and co-founder of the banned al-Muhajiroun group, was arrested in September 2014 as efforts intensify to disrupt the ideological backers of young British Muslims travelling to fight in foreign conflicts. Mr Choudary was among nine men held on suspicion of supporting a banned terrorist group and encouraging terrorism. The arrests came shortly after Mr Choudary fired off a series of angry tweets after David Cameron called on MPs to back air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria
Oli Scarff/Getty
11/14 North West Counter Terrorism Unit funds seizing
Police seize £250,000 of cash intended to fund Isis at Manchester Airport and north-west ports. Using powers under the Terrorism Act, the money was confiscated by officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit in Ocotber 2014
Getty
12/14 Tarik Hassane arrest
A medical student who was offered a place at a London university has been named among four men who are being questioned by counter-terror police after a series of raids across the capital. Tarik Hassane, 21, is believed to have been Tasered when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a "significant" Islamist terror plot on 7 October 2015
13/14 Abu Qatada removed from UK
Radical preacher Abu Qatada will not be returning to the UK after being cleared of terror charges in Jordan in 2013
Reuters
14/14 Haider Ahmed knife plot
Teenage Isis supporter Haider Ahmed purchased a 15ins hunting knife and threatened to launch a stabbing attack on the Tube. Prosecutors said he may alternatively have been planning to rob someone with the weapon to fund his travel to fight for Isis in Syria
He was jailed for preparing an act of terrorism in June 2019
Counter Terrorism Policing South East
1/14 Oxford Street terror plot
Lewis Ludlow was jailed for life in March 2019 for planning a 'spectacular multi-victim attack' on Oxford Street in London. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last year to plotting an attack in the UK and funding Isis abroad
EPA
2/14 Rosie Cooper MP plot
Jack Renshaw admitted plotting to kill his local Labour MP with a machete in June 2018. Renshaw bought a 19in machete intending to use it to kill Rosie Cooper, MP for West Lancashire. His plan was foiled by whistleblower Robbie Mullen, who heard of the plot in a meeting of alleged and convicted National Action members in the Friar Penketh pub in Warrington
Hope Not Hate
3/14 'Poppy terror plot'
Nadir Ali Sayed, his cousin Yousaf Shah Syed, and Haseeb Hamayoon, were charged with terrorism offences over an alleged plot to behead a member of public.
The trio were arrested in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 6 November - three days before Remembrance Sunday in 2014
PA
4/14 National Action arrests
Following the arrest of six men in 2018 on suspicion that they were members of the banned far-right terror group National Action, two were jailed. Christopher Lythgoe was found to be leader of the banned group and jailed for eight years, while Matthew Hankinson was jailed for six years. While it was found that Lythgoe did not encourage Jack Renshaw's plot to kill a Labour MP, the judge noted that he "did nothing to stop or discourage" the attack
PA
5/14 Shane Fletcher
A self-described 'loner', Fletcher planned to kill members of the public at a football match in his home town of Workington. He had been referred to the government's Prevent programme nine moths prior to his arrest after stating that he dreamed about "shooting up a mosque"
PA
6/14 Heathrow airport arrests
A 19-year-old from Coventry man was arrested at London's Heathrow airport on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism in November 2014
7/14 Extradition of Abu Hamza
Radical muslim cleric Abu Hamza was extradited to the US in 2014 after having been jailed in the UK for 7 years for 11 offences under the Terrorism Act
Getty
8/14 South East Counter Terrorism Unit arrests
Six people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a series of dawn raids in the south of England in October 2014. Three men and three women were detained separately in two properties in Portsmouth, one in Farnborough and one in Greenwich following an operation by the South East Counter Terrorism Unit. Counter-terror officers said they had disrupted what was believed to be the early stages of what could have turned into a “significant plot”
PA
9/14 October 2014 arrests
Three men were arrested in central London on 13 October as part of an investigation into Islamist-related terrorism. The arrests come nearly a week after five men were arrested in dawn raids that Whitehall officials said “may have foiled the early stages” of a plan to attack the UK
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty
10/14 Anjem Choudary arrest
Anjem Choudary, the radical activist and co-founder of the banned al-Muhajiroun group, was arrested in September 2014 as efforts intensify to disrupt the ideological backers of young British Muslims travelling to fight in foreign conflicts. Mr Choudary was among nine men held on suspicion of supporting a banned terrorist group and encouraging terrorism. The arrests came shortly after Mr Choudary fired off a series of angry tweets after David Cameron called on MPs to back air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria
Oli Scarff/Getty
11/14 North West Counter Terrorism Unit funds seizing
Police seize £250,000 of cash intended to fund Isis at Manchester Airport and north-west ports. Using powers under the Terrorism Act, the money was confiscated by officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit in Ocotber 2014
Getty
12/14 Tarik Hassane arrest
A medical student who was offered a place at a London university has been named among four men who are being questioned by counter-terror police after a series of raids across the capital. Tarik Hassane, 21, is believed to have been Tasered when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a "significant" Islamist terror plot on 7 October 2015
13/14 Abu Qatada removed from UK
Radical preacher Abu Qatada will not be returning to the UK after being cleared of terror charges in Jordan in 2013
Reuters
14/14 Haider Ahmed knife plot
Teenage Isis supporter Haider Ahmed purchased a 15ins hunting knife and threatened to launch a stabbing attack on the Tube. Prosecutors said he may alternatively have been planning to rob someone with the weapon to fund his travel to fight for Isis in Syria
He was jailed for preparing an act of terrorism in June 2019
Counter Terrorism Policing South East
“The government will need to keep this situation under review in a fast-moving online world, where offending causes real and significant harm.”
The report found that Islamists convicted of online offences received prison sentences three times longer, at 73.4 months on average, than their far-right counterparts, at 24.5 months, because of the current legal regime.
The sharing of hateful content online can be punished by a variety of offences, including malicious communications, hate crimes and causing “gross offence”.
But punishments are less severe than those for crimes under the Terrorism Acts, such as expressions of support for a proscribed organisation, viewing material useful to terrorists, encouraging terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications.
Takedowns have focused on Isis since it caught international security services off-guard with its use of online propaganda to inspire low-technology terror attacks around the world.
Social media companies have become increasingly adept at spotting jihadi symbols and language, but have progressed more slowly with the diverse range of indicators used by the far-right.
Counter-terror police have named the far right as Britain’s fastest-growing terror threat and online material has emerged as a motivating factor in numerous terror plots.
Ms Malik said right-wing extremists frequently used “free speech” arguments to defend themselves against potential takedowns, while Islamists can claim their freedom of religion is being impinged.
She told The Independent that right-wing extremists had become adept at using “coded language” and dogwhistles that are difficult to combat using automated flagging or removal programmes.
Holocaust denial has increasingly been replaced with what antisemites frame as a “legitimate debate” and “questions about the accuracy” of historical events, Ms Malik said.
Home Affairs Committee question Google over failure to remove National Action content
“Companies are unable to take down a lot of this content because they have a list from the government of proscribed groups and these groups are simply not on it,” Ms Malik said.
“There’s no consistency between the companies.”
The report cited examples of figures who had been removed from some mainstream platforms, but allowed to remain on others.
It also named extremists, such as anti-Islam figures Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who had been prevented from entering Britain because of extremist concerns but are allowed to remain on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
While researchers acknowledged that bans can merely push figures onto smaller platforms that are harder to monitor, such as the encrypted Telegram messaging service, it said mainstream takedowns can reduce their ability to radicalise new followers.
“A lot of these people will have an audience who will listen to everything they say, a fan club, but we’re trying to reduce amplification techniques,” Ms Malik said.
“Easy-to-use social networking sites with a public audience are still the easiest way for them to reach out to new people, so they want to get their ideas across.”
The report, which was commissioned by Facebook, proposed a “harm classification system” to improve consistency across different kinds of extremism.
The system ranks people convicted of online-based extremism into six bands of threat according to 20 indicators, including audience size, the glorification of violence, prejudice towards minority groups and a lack of remorse.
When applied to extremists convicted of online offences in Britain between 2015 and 2019, two thirds of far-right offenders were in the lowest three risk bands, and a third in the highest three risk bands. In contrast, more than half of Islamists were in the top bands.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of extremism it is – it gives a very structured and fair approach online, so the platform is taking a consistent approach and can justify that,” Ms Malik said.
“I hope that social media companies take it on board.”
A spokesperson for Twitter said it had removed hundreds of organisations for violating its violent extremism policy and “significantly expanded” its approach to hateful conduct.
YouTube said it had a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech and other extremist content, and had created new technology and hired experts to combat it.
Facebook spokesperson said: “Our work with groups like the Henry Jackson Society is critical to helping the industry understand and make progress on these important issues.
“It is through collaborations like these and with governments, academics and other companies through the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, that we improve our collective ability to prevent terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms.”
A government spokesperson said: “In 2016 the government proscribed the first extreme right-wing group, National Action, and further proscribed two aliases in 2017. Proscription must be based on a belief that a group is concerned in terrorism.
“Groups that are not proscribed are not free to spread hatred and incite violence and we continue to work with companies to crack down on such content. The Online Harms White Paper detailed our intention to establish in law a new duty of care on companies, overseen by an independent regulator.”
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