For British national security, extremism on social media poses as much danger as terrorism from Afghanistan or Syria, the head of the UK intelligence agency has warned.
“Self-initiated terrorists,” or “lone wolves” as they are known, remain a greater threat than the 9/11 plots or the July 7, 2005, 7/7 attacks in London, said MI5 chief intelligence officer. Ken McCallum in an interview with Times Radio.
According to him, in the last four years alone, MI5 and the London Metropolitan Police Command against terrorism have destroyed 29 plots which were in the final stages, including 10 of the white far-right extremists.
The suspects were mainly those who were radicalized online and among them there were also 13-year-olds, he said.
He particularly criticized Facebook for its encryption rules, saying “decisions made in California boardrooms are increasingly important to our ability to do our jobs, as are decisions made in Afghanistan or Syria.”
“This is a real danger for us,” he said.
“Our job is to deal with one in a million cases, for example, where the living room is a living terrorist room. They may be producing a bomb, or filming a video in front of a devastating plot that may be planning.” , said McCallum.
However, he said he agreed with the Facebook boss’ desire to “protect privacy”.
“We absolutely do not want to live in a society where the state has a camera in everyone’s living room,” he said. / Rel
