15 years jail time for viewers of online terrorist material

Home Secretary Amber Rudd is expected to announce the tightening of radicalisation laws that could see people who repeatedly view terrorist content online face up to 15 years in prison. Home Office analysis reveals that ISIS supporters have published almost 67,000 tweets in English since September 2016, encouraging their propaganda campaign in the UK. Figures also show that in the first eight months of this year, more than 44,000 links to Isis propaganda were created and shared. The proposed changes would also see a new maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment introduced for terrorists who publish information about members of the armed forces, police and intelligence services for the purposes of preparing acts of terrorism. Rudd said: “I want to make sure those who view despicable terrorist content online, including jihadi websites, far-right propaganda and bomb-making instructions, face the full force of the law. There is currently a gap in the law around material [that] is viewed or streamed from the internet without being permanently downloaded. This is an increasingly common means by which material is accessed online for criminal purposes and is a particularly prevalent means of viewing extremist material such as videos and web pages.”