The home secretary is right to call on these companies to live up to their moral obligations to ensure that their platforms and services are not misused to inspire violence or perpetrate harmful acts. Progress on this front has been far too slow and, in many cases, inconsistent and plainly ineffective. For example, a YouTube search undertaken by the non-profit Counter Extremism Project in late August delivered more than 70,000 results for the well-known Isis propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki, including his most incendiary lectures urging Muslims to embrace violence. Yet the dual US-Yemeni citizen was killed more than six years ago.