Companies such as Facebook and Google have made life too easy for terrorists, says minister Ben Wallace

Internet giants face a multimillion-pound tax raid unless they agree to help combat the terrorist threat to ­Britain, which is at its worst “for 100 years”, the security minister revealed last night.

Ben Wallace accused internet firms of being “ruthless profiteers” that cost government a fortune by failing to assist the security ­ser­vices in identifying terrorists and stamping out extremism online.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Wallace said reliance on the internet means Britain is vul­nerable to terrorists and rogue states, admitting: “That’s what keeps me awake at night. We are more vulnerable than at any point in the last 100 years.”

The minister complained that the likes of Facebook, Google and YouTube have made life too easy for terrorists by ­refusing to