Information leaflets and posters have been sent to every police force in the UK advising the public on how to identify and report offensive or illegal content.
The leaflets sent by the Home Office promote an online tool - which can be found on the Directgov website – which allows people to report material anonymously.
Security Minister Baroness Neville-Jones said that it is vital online extremism is taken seriously.
She said: “I want to encourage those who come across extremist websites as part of their work to challenge it and report it through the Directgov webpage.
“By forging relationships with the internet industry and working with the public in this way, we can ensure that terrorist use of the internet does not go unchallenged.”
Websites reported to Directgov via its online form are referred to the national Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit.
The specialist team of police experts work with industry and partners in the UK and abroad to investigate and take down illegal or offensive material if necessary.
In the last year, reporting through Directgov has helped the Government remove content which has included beheading videos, terrorist training manuals and calls for racial or religious violence.
Some of the successes reported by the Home Office include:
• removing a number of videos encouraging martyrdom operations that had been uploaded to a UK-based website;
• shutting down a website that provided detailed video instructions on bomb making; and
• removing a number of videos encouraging acts of terrorism from a social networking site.
By Dilwar Hussain , Policeprofessional.com
