Prime Minister David Cameron: Facebook Should Be Forced to Cooperate

facebook-privacy3British Prime Minister David Cameron slammed Facebook last year after it was revealed that extremists had discussed their plot to kill a soldier within the United Kingdom on the site, plans that ultimately led to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby.

Cameron called Facebook a “safe haven” for terrorists, and said the site could have prevented the act of terror if it had better security measures in place to track extremist activity on the site. Now, especially in the wake of the recent Islamic terror attacks in Paris, Cameron wants to step up his pressure on American social media companies even more. This week, he urged President Obama to force Facebook and Twitter to keep track of potential terrorists and comply with intelligence agencies.

“The Prime Minister’s objective is to get the U.S. companies to cooperate with us more, and to make sure our intelligence agencies get the information that they need to keep us safe,” a British government source said. “That will be his approach in his discussion with President Obama. How can we work together to get them to cooperate more?”

It’s not out of the question for Facebook to be used to track extremists around the world, but it’s unlikely the site would handle that kind of legwork on its own. That could lead to a mind-boggling amount of privacy and civil liberty issues, so for now, you can bet Facebook will maintain its current hands-off policy when it comes to crime.