Wyre MP calls for 'extremism tax' of internet firms

Security minister Ben Wallace, who represents Wyre and Preston North, said companies like Facebook, Google and YouTube were not doing enough to tackle extremist content.

He said that the government was spending millions policing the internet, while the tech companies were taking all the profits.

He told the Sunday Times: "Because content is not taken down as quickly as they could do, we're having to de-radicalise people who have been radicalised. That's costing millions."

"Because of encryption and because of radicalisation, the cost of that is heaped on law enforcement agencies.

"If they continue to be less than co-operative, we should look at things like tax as a way of incentivis­ing them or compen­sating for their inaction."

Tech firms have previously called on the government to help them remove extremist content.