Furious Yvette Cooper’s warning to social media firms over Southport video refusal

Yvette Cooper said it is ‘frankly disgraceful’ that violent material watched by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has not been removed despite the Government writing to social media firms

Furious Yvette Cooper has lashed out at social media firms who refused to remove violent videos watched by the Southport killer shortly before the sickening attack.

The Home Secretary has written to X, Meta, TikTok, Google, and YouTube demanding material watched by Axel Rudakubana is taken down. But she said this has been ignored.

She described it as “frankly disgraceful” and said online giants have a “moral responsibilty” to ensure people cannot access dangerous material. It has emerged that Rudakubana, who murdered three young girls and attempted to murder dozens more at a dance class last July, watched one video moments before leaving home on the day of the attack.

Ms Cooper said: “There been some further content contact with some of those social media companies, but our understanding is that much of that material is still available online. I think, frankly, that is disgraceful because I think they have a moral responsibility to act.”

Asked if she was angry, Ms Cooper said: “I really am, because I just think you said, you know, we had the most horrendous crime and responsibility for that crime lies with the perpetrator who is now in prison. But there is still a responsibility on everyone to do what they can to keep people safe and to address this, this wider problem that we have about a growing violent extremism among teenagers.”

Shortly before leaving home to carry out the attack, Rudakubana had watched sickening footage of an attack on a Bishop in Australia. Although this was removed there, it can still be accessed in the UK.

Ms Cooper went on: “The new Online Safety Act measures come in this spring, and that will mean that there will be a legal requirement on companies to remove illegal content to have systems to do so, they will face penalties.”

And she said the Government is prepared to “go further” if online giants do not comply.