Facebook accused in report on terrorist murder of Lee Rigby
FACEBOOK has been attacked by a report into the murder of Lee Rigby that concluded that it may have help ed prevent the death if it had shared messages from one killer.
The report by the Intelligence and Security Com mit tee concluded that the murder was not preventable and could not have been foreseen.
However, in a passage on the role of Facebook, unnamed in the report but which City A.M. understands to be the firm involved, it adds: “Had MI5 had access to this exchange at the time, Michael Adebowale would have become a top priority. There is then a significant possibility that MI5 would have been able to prevent the attack.”
Facebook said: “We were horrified by the vicious murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby… Facebook’s policies are clear, we do not allow terrorist content on the site and take steps to prevent people from using our service for these purposes.”
Jim Killock of digital campaign group ORG criticised the report, saying, “Internet companies cannot and must not become an arm of the surveillance state.”