Most of you know of the horrific terrorist attack that took place in Manchester, England on Monday, May 22. A suicide bomber killed 22 people, many of them children and teenagers, while attending a pop concert. At a G7 Summit British Prime Minister Theresa May talked about online extremism. So let’s see how this British Prime Minister fights extremism, or plans to.
We also know terrorist group ISIS claimed responsibility. May talked about ISIS’ online influence. She also said they were moving from the battlefield to the Internet. Then she called on social media sites to target and eliminate extreme content. Consequently, counter-terrorism was the main theme of this G7 Summit, which took place in Italy. Theresa May talked about other methods of fighting terrorism and extremism.
She called the summit a great step. But she wants to do more. She wants terrorist material gone from the Internet. She said Internet and IT support companies have a responsibility to shut these extreme influences down. Not only to shut them down, but to report them to authorities. She acknowledged Manchester and other recent attacks in her native Great Britain. Prime Minister May exposed foreign fighters going to Syria then coming back to the UK. Could online extremism influence them? Also, she claimed to get rid of ‘hate preachers’ from her country.
Some may call Mrs. May’s talk ‘right-wing’. But she makes valid points. It’s no secret ISIS and other terrorist groups use social media as a recruiting tool. They’ll throw ice cream parties and put them on You Tube and say, “Look at the good we’re doing”. Then they’ll target lonely, bullied, disenfranchised kids and promise them better. They even target lonely women and ask them to become ‘jihadi brides’, and pay their way to the Middle East. This is real talk. So these are the depths these terror and extreme groups will sink to. The British Prime Minister is right about something else. All of us in IT support have a responsibility to do what we can to stop them from doing this. But what do we do?