Terror Posts and Encryption Targeted by U.K. Following Attack

The U.K. government urged social-media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to tackle terror posts on their sites as it reinforced its demand to allow access to encrypted messages, according to Bloomberg. “We need to do more and we need to work with them to make sure they help us to do more,“ Home Secretary Amber Rudd said in an ITV interview.

Following the attack by a suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a Manchester pop concert on Monday, supporters of Islamic State published a number of posts on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram boasting about the incident. Security services are investigating the possibility that the bomber, who was known to the authorities, was part of a wider network.

“We mustn’t underestimate that ISIS really want to commit these acts and are constantly trying to radicalize people,“ Rudd said. Facebook and Twitter declined to comment. Spokespeople from Telegram could not be reached for comment.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party has taken a hard line against social-media platforms following the revelation that Khalid Masood, who killed five people in London in March, had used WhatsApp shortly before he began his rampage.

Rudd said at the time that Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging system should open its encryption to security services and urged online companies to be more aggressive in shutting down sites exploited by terrorists. U.K. legislation is set to force companies such as Facebook and its subsidiary WhatsApp to allow the U.K. government access to encrypted services upon request.