Facebook has responded to Theresa May's call to regulate big internet companies offering a "safe space" for extremism.

Though she did not name any particular companies, Mrs May's comments were widely interpreted as an attack on social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter.

A Facebook spokesman told Sky News "we want to provide a service where people feel safe".

Facebook does not "allow" groups or people that engage in terrorist activity, or posts that express support for terrorism, said Director of Policy Simon Milner.

"We want Facebook to be a hostile environment for terrorists."

Facebook used technology and human review to "aggressively remove terrorist content from our platform as soon as we became aware of it", and notified law enforcement if they became aware of an emergency involving imminent harm.

"We have long collaborated with policymakers, civil society and others in the tech industry and we are committed to continuing this important work together," Mr Milner said in a statement provided to Sky.

In May, Britain's Security Minister Ben Wallace accused social media giants of being "completely duplicitous" in regards to assisting the government tackle terror online.

Mr Wallace told The Telegraph it was concerning that such companies would share users' personal information, but refuse to assist the government with investigations.