The Community Security Trust has welcomed a parliamentary report which accuses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube of “consciously failing” to combat promotion of terrorism on their sites.

The Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee said social media platforms had become “the vehicle of choice in spreading propaganda and the recruiting platforms for terrorism”.

In a report published this morning, the committee said it was “alarming that these companies have teams of only a few hundred employees to monitor networks of billions of accounts”.

It said Twitter “does not even pro-actively report extremist content to law enforcement agencies.

“These companies are hiding behind their supranational legal status to pass the parcel of responsibility and refusing to act responsibly in case they damage their brands.”

Mark Gardner, CST communications director, said the charity had submitted written evidence to the committee about its own experiences with the firms.

He said CST was “glad to see that the report has hit upon the role of social media providers in facilitating the spread of propaganda and incitement”.

Marie van der Zyl,Board of Deputies vice-president, said: "We reflect the concerns of the Home Affairs Select Committee that social media websites are becoming the ‘vehicle of choice’ for spreading terrorist propaganda.

"With the growth of social media, antisemitism and other forms of hate are finding new forms of expression which must be countered. The companies themselves should play a positive role in tackling this threat.”