Home Secretary Amber Rudd calls for united stand against online terror

Speaking at the Forum, held in San Francisco, Amber Rudd welcomed the willingness of internet service providers to develop a coordinated industry response to the global threat.

The Home Secretary said:

It is encouraging to see so many organisations here today willing to take a stand on this vital agenda. I want to thank the companies I have met while here for the strides they are taking in making the internet a hostile place for terrorists to operate.

But we need to do more to help keep our communities safe. The scale of the threat we face is not something any one of us can tackle alone and only through collective action across governments, civil society and industry can we seek to defeat it. I welcome the commitment of the Forum to take this work forward.

There is no doubt that the challenge is complex. But it is important to remember that behind these discussions about technology lies our determination to protect people – from being radicalised and from being the victims of a terrorist attack.

Our enemy is trying to weaponise vulnerable people in their homes. It is a war where the front line can be a screen in a young person’s bedroom or the mobile phone in their pocket.

We must be united in our resolve to purge the internet of this poisonous and pernicious material. Today has been a significant step towards achieving that goal but there is more to do. Let’s work together to take terrorism offline.