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Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on ‘what the papers don’t say’ – without fear or favour.
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For the residents of Southport, the last two days have been unimaginably grim. Still reeling from the sudden, violent loss of their children, last night they were subjected to yet more violence in the form of a far-right riot.
As families held a silent and dignified vigil for their lost daughters, not too far away a group of mostly middle-aged men threw bricks at a local mosque and set a police van alight, convinced that the alleged attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker on an MI6 watchlist and that the police were not doing enough to keep them safe.
There have been other violent incidents this year, such as the sword attack in Hainault, but none have led to the outpouring of rage that we saw last night. So what changed?
It started with a tweet. Someone shared the phrase “Ali Al-Shakati”, claiming that this was the name of the 17-year-old attacker who had, supposedly, arrived in the UK by boat and landed on an MI6 watchlist. A fake news outlet with no contactable owners then turned this into an “article”. The article was reposted by well-known far-right figures with large audiences and the fake details were re-shared by both anonymous far-right accounts and far-right adjacent commentators including Laurence Fox and Andrew Tate.
Southport Violence: ‘We All Need To Consider Our Role in the Wild West of Social Media Hypercriminality’
Key elements of misinformation about the Southport killings originated in a social media post by ‘Channel 3 News’
According to the original Terms and Conditions of Twitter: “You may not share synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm” This includes “media likely to result in widespread confusion on public issues, impact public safety, or cause serious harm”.
None of this was apparently implemented this week as, within hours, well-known far-right figures were organising a protest. Telling each other that “the name should be released” and demanding a physical description of the attacker, they egged each other on becoming angrier with every post. Tommy Robinson’s right-hand man, Danny Tommo (aka Daniel Thomas) added to the noise with an emotional YouTube livestream in which he told his 66,000 followers that “this is how it’s gonna go down…if this fella has come off a boat, I’m ready to go”.
The video continued for eight minutes, as Thomas told viewers that he had seen pictures of the children killed in Southport and how angry this had made him. He expressed anger by asking them “If we find out that this fella has come over on a boat…how much more until we say that just going down somewhere and walking the streets isn’t gonna change anything?!” Clearly not in possession of all the facts and prefacing his rant with “if we find out” Thomas was still more than willing to incite people to violence.
The Politics of Farage and Reform is No Joke of a Matter – The Established Media Must Learn Its Lessons and Start Holding Them to Account
The normalisation of racism and dog-whistles will only get worse if the press continues to treat Farage as an entertaining figure representing the ‘real views’ of the British people – it must stop, writes Byline Times’ Editor
It is this sentiment which underscores the far-right activity we have seen in the last two days. A lack of information fuelled by an underlying desire to punish the Muslim community for existing.
There is currently no evidence that the alleged attacker was Muslim or attended the Mosque these men attacked, just as there is nothing to support the Ali Al-Shakati identity. But this does not matter to those who share such misinformation. Whether their aim is to draw traffic to a website, get clicks on social media, promote a dangerous ideology or find an excuse to get bevvied and throw rocks at the police, misinformation is useful. It enables them to take the hate they already feel and pretend that they are protecting their wives, their children and their community.
‘A Nationalist Uprising’: Islamophobia and the Bannonisation of British Politics
As Liz Truss joins Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson as the latest recruit to Steve Bannon’s dangerous and undemocratic internationalist ‘anti-globalism’ – more online information warfare and hate will be the result, writes Peter Jukes
It is telling that some of the loudest purveyors of this misinformation – David Vance with more than 200k followers and Laurence Fox with more than half a million – never showed their faces at the “protest”. They are happy to promote the misinformation, share the hate and rile up their followers, but not take responsibility for the fall-out. Likewise, when the press and others begin criticising the actions of the far right, these same people will be the first to tell you that there’s no such thing.
Desperate to maintain the illusion of concerned citizens, they will deny the presence of a far right even as its members are pictured raging in the streets.
If we are laying blame then we must come back to X itself, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. Recent reports indicate that X has become a hub for disinformation and Musk’s claim of “free speech absolutism” appears even more facetious when balanced against actual violence.
Musk’s willingness to allow fake news sites to use his platform, along with his sometimes open approval of far-right X users, has created a culture of permissiveness where the truth is less important than the impact of one’s posts.
A press release from Impress, the press regulation authority, is now calling for social media outlets, the press and politicians to change the way this sort of misinformation is spread;
“The dangers posed by misinformation have rarely been more stark than they were in Southport on Tuesday night.
In the wake of a horrific incident in the Merseyside town, that remains the subject of police investigation, unfounded rumours regarding the perpetrator’s identity began to spread, seemingly started by accounts masquerading as legitimate news sites.
Despite police and government officials dismissing this information as false, it was spread on social media and promoted by prominent figures, whipping up anger that manifested in discrimination and violence on Tuesday night.
While this is not the first time misinformation has led to these outcomes, it needs to be the incident that sparks serious conversations and changes regarding how misinformation is promoted and spread.
Impress is therefore calling on politicians, media organisations and community groups to convene and collaborate with urgency to improve public news literacy, journalistic standards and discuss future legislation that can help tackle this ongoing and increasingly threatening problem
Ultimately, there will always be a far-right contingent online and they will always be seeking ways to justify their rage and hatred. Likewise, there will always be grifters seeking to raise their income and popularity regardless of the impact on others. It should be the job of those who own social media platforms to counter this, not pour gasoline on the raging fire.