Google, Facebook and other internet companies could be prosecuted if they do not stop extremist videos from being seen on their websites by people in Britain, The Daily Telegraph reported.
UK ministers are considering a new law which would mean Google — which owns YouTube — and other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can be prosecuted if they allow such videos to be disseminated.
Google publicly apologised this week after the growing scandal over extremist videos on YouTube led to a series of companies pulling their adverts from the internet giant.
Google and other social media sites have an agreement to take down extremist content within 24 hours when they are alerted to it, the report said.
However, UK ministers are worried that this would still mean thousands of people will be able to watch the videos thousands of times before they are taken down. They are looking at a new law to force the websites to take down content immediately or face court action.
