How the far right hijacked Southport protests
Sky News has seen multiple messages in various Telegram groups since last Thursday promoting protests - many of these have shared posters for riots at mosques.
Tuesday 6 August 2024 09:50, UK
Protests sparked by the killing of three girls in Southport have spiralled into UK-wide riots now hijacked by the far right.
Warning: Contains graphic content some readers may find distressing.
By tracking Telegram channels used by far-right activists and groups and analysing online rhetoric on platforms like X, Sky News has found that over the past week protests have shifted in focus from the Southport stabbings to anti-immigration riots with Islamophobic rhetoric.
The government has come under pressure to address online misinformation. In response to the riots, Sir Keir Starmer said the criminal law “applies online as well as offline”. X owner Elon Musk has been quick to retaliate against the politician's comments, highlighting divisions that are spreading far beyond Southport.
It comes a week after three children were killed in an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport. Since then false information that the suspect was a radical Islamist migrant has spread online.
Tweets shift from Southport to protests
Over the past week data from social media monitoring tool TalkWalker shows that tweets online have shifted from Southport to protests reflecting the changing focus of right-wing groups in particular.
Following online speculation about the suspect's identity and false claims that he is an immigrant and Muslim, we chose to focus our searches on the language used within the speculative claims.
Two days after the stabbing, tweets relating to Southport and various terms relating to Muslims and immigration began to decrease.
But there was a notable increase in tweets relating to both 'protest' and various terms relating to Muslims and immigration which spiked from Friday and over the weekend - as a number of riots took place across the UK.
Sky News has seen multiple messages in various Telegram groups since last Thursday promoting protests - many of these have shared posters for riots at mosques.
Anti-immigrant sentiment was not only clear online but at the protests themselves. One video taken in Hull on Saturday shows protesters shouting: "We want our country back".
Misinformation spreading online
Misinformation on social media platforms raises questions for platforms like X.
Former leader of the defunct anti-Islam English Defence League, Tommy Robinson, tweeted a video taken from the riots in Hanley, Stoke, on Saturday falsely claiming that two “British men” had been "stabbed by Muslims".
Thirty minutes after this video was shared by Robinson, Staffordshire Police issued a statement saying that two men had been "injured" but "no stabbings" had been reported to police "despite videos fuelling speculation on social media".
The force said the men were injured by a "blunt object that was thrown".
Robinson’s tweet which is still on X has almost one million views and was shared thousands of times. As a high-profile far-right figure, his online involvement demonstrates how false information can be amplified on X.
While he clarified there were no reports of stabbings six hours after his original post - the tweet has not been flagged by X and his clarification was viewed 170k times - significantly less than the false claim he first shared.
Contacted by Sky News, a spokesperson for Urban Scoop, a media platform which Robinson advertises in his bio on X, said: "The 'stabbing' post you're referring to was corrected here in light of information shared by police.
"As for the repost about a migrant with a gun in the hotel, that was a repost of someone else. It's hard to say what the migrant was holding in the window, it can't be verified either way so that 'repost' has been taken down."
X rules state that users must not "share synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm".
Sky News has asked the platform why a community note has not been added to the post to show Robinson's original claim that two men had been stabbed was not true. The platform didn't respond at the time of publication.
Beyond the platform's guidelines, X owner Elon Musk reinstated Robinson's account in November 2023 after he was banned for "hateful conduct". Musk has repeatedly been criticised for the spread of disinformation on X since he took charge.
The billionaire has responded to a number of tweets regarding the riots. On Sunday, he tweeted a comment that read "civil war is inevitable", in response to a video re-posted by a conservative influencer, showing disorder during one of the protests.
‘No justification’ for Musk comments
Sir Keir responded to Musk’s post, with the prime minister’s official spokesperson commenting: “There is no justification for comments like that.
"Anyone who is whipping up violence online will face the full force of the law. Online platforms have a responsibility."
Sir Keir also posted a video of himself on X talking about clamping down on the riots. In the video's comments, Musk didn't hesitate to reply to the politician's statement, saying: "Shouldn't you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?"
His post was viewed more than half a million times within an hour of posting.
Telegram messages show tactics changing
Sky News has monitored more than six Telegram groups since the attack happened which have organised and discussed riots across the country.
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Tap hereWhile some mosques were targeted last week, many locations of the riots included town halls and other civic buildings. However, Sky News has seen a list of 39 locations for protests set to take place this week - all of which are either immigration centres or immigration service buildings.
Telegram’s Terms of Service states that users must not use the platform to “promote violence on publicly viewable Telegram channels”.
In response to Sky News' request for comment, Telegram said their terms of service explicitly forbid calls to violence.
"The channels publishing calls to violence have been removed," said spokesperson Remi Vaughn in a message. "Each day, millions of pieces of dangerous content are removed before they can cause harm."
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.