Theresa May to tell technology companies to go 'further and faster' in battling extremism

As part of her United Nations address on Wednesday, Theresa May was set to urge technology companies to go "further and faster" with their efforts to remove extremist content from the internet.

The Prime Minister, along with other world leaders, had also scheduled meetings with the likes of Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter where they would challenge social media networks and search engines on the removal of extremist material from their servers.

Google had previously said it was doing its best to combat the issue but could not do it without the assistance of governments and users.

British MPs had called for limits to end-to-end encryption, which stops messages being read by third-parties if intercepted, and measures to quell the flow of extremist material on social media. May herself has demanded an end to the "safe spaces" she said extremists enjoy online.

May was set to call for further investment in the development of artificial intelligence solutions capable of automatically reducing the spread of extremist propaganda, and eventually prevent it from appearing in the first place.

A Downing Street source told the BBC: "These companies have some of the best brains in the world."

"They should really be focusing on what matters, which is stopping the spread of terrorism and violence."