The UK’s independent terrorism legislation watchdog has warned that the government’s new national security strategy fails to take the growing threat of online extremism seriously enough, despite Keir Starmer insisting the plan represented “a hardening and sharpening of our approach” against Russian hostility.
Jonathan Hall KC, who reviews the UK’s counter-terrorism laws, said it was “a very surprising omission” that the 2025 national security strategy did not place greater emphasis on online threats from terrorists and hostile states. He said digital platforms were now a “major vector of threat” and should be treated with the same seriousness as traditional defence capabilities.
Hall, speaking ahead of a Tuesday address, is expected to argue that failing to confront the implications of online threats “is a gross error”. He said almost all terrorism in the UK now begins online.
“Digital life is central to national security, is not an adjunct consideration, and is not to be categorised and dismissed by drawing analogies with earlier technologies such as television, that have caused moral panics and then become integrated into our lives,” he is expected to say.
Highlighting real-world examples of online radicalisation, Hall will point to scenarios in which extremist content spreads unchecked:
“Consider the fact that … on one of most popular online games [platforms] for children, Roblox, it is possible to enact a school massacre or mosque shooting.
“Consider the chatbot … that encouraged a man to take a crossbow to Windsor to try to kill the late Queen. Think about Dylan Earl, recently sentenced for a total of 23 years, who was recruited online by the Wagner group to arrange arson at a warehouse containing equipment destined to support Ukraine.”
He said these risks come “quite apart from the technical opportunities given to adversaries for hostile surveillance, disruption through cyber-attacks [and] new attack methodologies”.
The national security strategy published in June calls for improvements in UK cybersecurity, and Starmer emphasised that “technology is transforming the nature of both war and domestic security”. However, the document focuses heavily on boosting defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, prompting concerns that online threats remain under-prioritised.
Hall is also expected to accuse the government of overstating the safety of digital life in Britain. Despite the Online Safety Act coming into force in 2023, his researchers recently found an Islamic State-affiliated Facebook account sharing an instructional guide to the “deadliest places for stabbing”, which had remained online for at least a month despite being reported.
Hall said: “Nothing in the Online Safety Act allows the authorities to take down content or to order tech companies to take it down. Despite this, you will continue to hear ministers saying that the Online Safety Act makes the UK the safest place to be online. We need much greater clarity about what the Online Safety Act can and cannot do. Digital life is too important for us to be left in the dark.”
Dame Melanie Dawes, chief executive of Ofcom, told MPs on Monday that the regulator was investigating whether social media companies have proper systems in place to swiftly assess and remove illegal hate and terror material. “If we uncover significant compliance concerns, we will not hesitate to move into formal enforcement action,” she said.
Hall will also urge a fundamental “recast” of surveillance laws that currently prevent UK authorities from gathering personal information online without prior authorisation, even when it is publicly posted.
He is expected to argue: “We need to consider whether our predigital laws governing surveillance are unduly restricting the ability of counter-terrorism authorities to consider publicly available information online – that is, information that we have freely publicised and/or surrendered to tech companies for advertising purposes.”
A government spokesperson said: “The UK has one of the most robust counter-terrorism frameworks in the world, and this government is committed to ensuring we have the required tools and powers needed to stop the spread of violence and hatred against individuals and communities in our society.
“Under the Online Safety Act, digital platforms must also take action to prevent illegal content, including terrorist and violent material, to protect users and our communities from online harm.”
