Social media fanned flames of UK riots, but politicians must take responsibility too
21 August 2024, 12:33
Social media were flooded with hate speech and falsehoods following the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport last month.
Dr Paul Reilly is a Senior Lecturer in Communications, Media & Democracy at the University of Glasgow.
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The decision to release the name of the 17 year old suspect did little to quell online misinformation suggesting he was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Social media were widely blamed for pouring petrol on the fires set by far-right groups, who cynically used the Southport attacks to peddle their racist ideologies and incite violence against people of colour, Muslims and the police.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Keir Starmer was among those to condemn a series of inflammatory posts from Twitter/X CEO Elon Musk, which claimed the rioters were the victims of two-tier policing.
Inevitably, there have been calls for heavier fines to compel social media companies to remove the hate speech and misinformation that contribute to civil unrest.
The UK Online Safety Act, due to be fully implemented next year, grants Ofcom powers to fine these companies up to 10% of their global turnover if they fail to remove harmful content. However, it remains to be seen whether such penalties will lead to higher rates of such content being removed.
Twitter consistently failed to remove content flagged as hate speech by users before the Musk takeover. The tech entrepreneur’s ‘free speech absolutism’ suggests this record is likely to get even worse.
These are self-styled platforms that have no desire to exercise editorial responsibility for the content they host.
They arguably have little incentive to remove inflammatory content that generates huge revenue through every click, like and share they receive.
Ultimately, there are no easy technological fixes for the societal problems that play out on these platforms.
It is expedient for politicians to blame social media rather than acknowledge their role in producing a toxic political discourse in relation to asylum seekers and immigration.
Social media were awash with false information about the number of asylum seekers entering the UK amid accusations that the government and police have manufactured the unrest.
Many of these were amplified by right-wing politicians, influencers and commentators. Now, more than ever, public figures need to moderate their language and avoid spreading falsehoods that inflame tensions; both on and offline.
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