Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to address threats of physical violence made through social networking sites.

The Government is clear that internet companies must go further and faster to tackle illegal content online.

As part of our work to deliver the Serious Violence Strategy, we have established a social media action group to bring together Government, social media companies, police, and community groups to tackle violent material available via social media.

The social media companies represented include Google (YouTube), Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. The group meets regularly and has received updates on the development of the new police capability to tackle gang related content online, which was announced by the Home Secretary on 17 June.

On 17 June the Home Secretary announced funding of £1.38m to support a new national police capability to tackle gang related activity on social media. The new social media hub will be established within MPS, transforming the current capability and extending its reach to other forces.

On 11 June 2018, representatives from Google and Facebook attended a meeting of the Serious Violence Taskforce chaired by the Home Secretary, to present the action being taken to tackle violent content online.