UK lawmakers see role for business in pressuring tech firms over extremist content

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain should tell businesses to apply pressure to major tech firms to force them to do more to tackle online extremism and terrorism, a senior parliamentary committee said on Thursday.

Last year a number of major firms such as Marks & Spencer and HSBC pulled advertising for British markets from Google sites after adverts appeared alongside offensive videos on YouTube.

After four militant attacks in Britain that killed 36 people last year, senior ministers have repeatedly demanded that internet companies do more to suppress extremist content and allow access to encrypted communications.

In a report on the 2017 attacks, the UK parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said appealing to tech and social firms' sense of corporate and social responsibility had not led them to making the necessary changes.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Kate Holton)