Social media giants quizzed over hate crime responses

Social media companies will be grilled by MPs over their response to hate crime and abuse.

Senior representatives of Google, Facebook and Twitter will appear at the Commons Home Affairs committee.

They will be quizzed about their firms' efforts to tackle hatred and abuse on their platforms.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chair of the Committee, said: "We've seen too many cases of vile online hate crimes, harassment or threats where social media companies have failed to act.

"It cannot be beyond the wit and means of multibillion-dollar social media companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google to develop ways to better protect users from hatred and abuse.

"They have a duty to do so. We will be asking the companies about specific cases, why they didn't act, and what they intend to do about it now."

Hate crime has come under the spotlight in recent months after figures showed reports of incidents to police surged in the aftermath of the EU referendum.

And a number of high-profile trolling cases have sparked scrutiny of the issue of online abuse.