Remove video seen by Southport killer, Cooper says

The Home Secretary has told tech companies to ensure that violent content seen on social media is removed from social media.

In a letter to X, Meta, TikTok, Google and YouTube, Yvette Cooper said the ease of access to such content was “unacceptable” and the firms had a “moral responsibility to act”.

Axel Rudkubana was sentenced to 52 years in prison last week after pleading guilty to murdering Babe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, at a dance class in July.

All five companies have been contacted for comment.

As well as the three murders, Rudkubana pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults injured in the attack.

Materials discovered in his home suggested an obsession with violence, including an academic study of al-Qaeda training manuals downloaded from the Internet.

Police have said that Rudkubana used techniques established in the manual when he carried out the attack.

In the letter, which was co-written with Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, Cooper said that, while possession of the document was illegal under existing counter-terrorism laws, Rudakubana was “easily able to gain access” and this “continues “To be available online”.

“The ease of access to such dangerous, illegal content is unacceptable,” she said.

“We must prevent further unlawful access to instructional material by those wishing to cause harm to the United Kingdom.”

Before leaving home to carry out the attack, Rudakubana watched graphic footage of the knife attack on Australian Bishop Marie Emmanuel that had occurred a few months earlier.

Cooper said the video of the attack had been removed in Australia but could still be accessed in the UK, adding the Southport attack had “laid bare the potential consequences of failing to act on this kind of content”. “.

“We are therefore urgently asking you to ensure that it is also removed from your platforms to ensure that it is not used to inspire other attacks,” she said.

From March, under the Online Safety Act, passed in October, social media platforms will be obliged to take “proportionate measures” to protect users from illegal content.

Cooper said there was “no justification for waiting for the laws to kick in” and that platforms had a “moral responsibility to act now”.

The government has announced that a public inquiry will be held into opportunities to stop Rudkubana.

Rudkubana was referred to the prevention program on three separate occasions between 2019 and 2021.

He had a prior conviction for a violent crime against another child at the school and admitted to carrying a knife more than 10 times.