They said the internet giant had ‘blood on its hands’ because it had hosted exchanges between one of the soldier’s murderers and an Al Qaeda extremist, in which the former said: ‘Let’s kill a soldier.’
However, the social network’s staff failed to tell MI5 about the ‘graphic and emotive’ posts from Michael Adebowale, made just six months before the atrocity took place.
Incredibly, Facebook had already disabled seven of his accounts – five of which were flagged over links to extremism – without informing security services. Fusilier Rigby’s sister, Sara McClure, 25, said: ‘Facebook have my brother’s blood on their hands. I hold them partly responsible for Lee’s murder.’
In a long-awaited report, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee yesterday said that had MI5 known about Adebowale’s messages, Fusilier Rigby’s murder could have been avoided.
And in a damning indictment of US-based tech firms, it said the same mistakes could have been made by websites run by Google, Yahoo, Apple, Twitter or Microsoft, which have become a ‘haven’ for terrorists.
David Cameron said the companies – once frequently courted by his government – were being ‘used to plot murder and mayhem’, adding: ‘It is their social responsibility to act on this ... we expect them to live up to it.’
Former home secretary Jack Straw said there was a ‘cultural problem amongst the leadership of some of these [sites] who have got a distorted libertarian ideology, who believe that somehow this allows them to be wholly detached from responsibility’.
Miss McClure told The Sun newspaper: ‘It is totally clear from this report that information so vital could have alerted our security services to this terror plot.’
The ISC criticised both MI5 and MI6 for a string of blunders when tracking Fusilier Rigby’s killers, Adebowale and Michael Adebolajo – but, controversially, it insisted that given what the agencies knew at the time, they could not be blamed for failing to prevent the murder. This is despite the fact that:
- Between them, Adebowale and Adebolajo were subject to no fewer than seven intelligence investigations;
- MI6 showed a ‘deeply unsatisfactory’ lack of interest when Adebolajo was caught in Kenya trying to join Al Shabaab terrorists;
- He was dismissed as a mere drug dealer weeks before the killing and dropped off the official radar;
An application for intrusive surveillance on Adebowale in 2013 took ‘nearly twice as long as it should have’ amid internal wrangling by MI5. Home Secretary Theresa May signed the warrant only after Fusilier Rigby was dead.
However, the ISC’s 191-page report also highlights an exchange on Facebook between Adebowale and a fanatic since codenamed FOXTROT. Adebowale expressed his desire to murder a soldier in retaliation for UK military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was advised on different methods of murder.
Announcing £130million in funding to help the fight against ‘self-starting’ terrorists, the Prime Minister declared: ‘We must not accept that these communications are beyond the reach of the authorities or the internet companies themselves. Their networks are being used to plot murder and mayhem.’
But Isabella Sankey of Liberty said: ‘The ISC shamefully spins the facts, seeking to blame [websites] for not doing the agencies’ work for them.’
A Facebook spokesman said: ‘Like everyone else, we were horrified by the vicious murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. We don’t comment on individual cases but 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.’
