Leading counter-terrorism officer Matt Jukes called on the Government to make urgent changes were needed to avoid a repeat of Axel Rudakubana’s horrific triple murder in Southport
The UK’s leading counter-terrorism officer Matt Jukes has warned that social media is acting like a “cancer” for young people, with exposure to harmful content online fuelling violent actions offline.
Jukes’ warning comes in the wake of the Southport killings, which saw 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana horrifically murder three girls at a Taylor Swift dance class. A government review found that the murderous teen had been exposed to a plethora of violent and extremist content, and had developed a keen interest in terrorism and school shootings.
Rudakubana’s worrying actions prior to his murderous spree were not solely confined to the internet, however, with the killer being reported for attacking a fellow pupil with a hockey stick and bringing a knife to school.
In order to avoid future such radicalisations, head of counter-terror policing Jukes as urged parliament to bring in tough restrictions, especially age verification for social media users.
Jukes didn’t hold back in his warning about the dangers of unregulated social media. “If I give you a parallel with the harm caused by smoking, by 1950, it was clear that smoking was causing lung cancer and killing people,”
“But it took decades for governments to decide to regulate, not even the supply of tobacco more closely, but even just the advertising of tobacco to young people in places where young people could see it.”.
Jukes also recommended taking a lot at Australia’s approach to the issue, with the Commonwealth country having recently banned under sixteens from using social media. While he didn’t quite endorse an outright ban, he said it was something the UK “should explore”.
Jukes made it clear that waiting for the perfect solution wasn’t an option. “We are going to need to move forward with online safety in a way that is at a pace, with a rigor, with determination, which we’ve not yet been able to achieve internationally,” he warned.
“That means revisiting the Online Safety Act, looking at the question of whether it can be extended to private communications and the responsibility of platforms who provide private messaging as well as publishing.
Because right now, the risks are growing faster than our ability to respond.”