An expert has explained how social media platforms' "cynical" business models can stoke disagreement and lead to real-world conflict, as the UK reels from days of unrest driven by anti-immigration rioters.
The country has been embroiled in violence since three girls were killed in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.
False rumours spread online that the suspect was a Muslim asylum-seeker. The judge in the case ordered Axel Rudakubana (born in Wales to Rwandan parents) to be identified, in part to stop the spread of misinformation, but the violence has continued.
Imran Ahmed from the UK Center for Countering Digital Hate told Breakfast this morning: "This may be the most significant period of extended violence in the UK in my lifetime.
"This is across the entire nation, from London through to the north of England, we're seeing violent mobs even in Northern Ireland, in Belfast, we're seeing violent mobs attacking the police, attacking Muslim residents, attacking Muslim businesses.
"And of course, all based on disinformation which is itself a unique modern feature of the way that violence is mobilised."
Social media's role in the violence
Ahmed explained that social media platforms were "the first place where the lies that underpin hatred were spread".
He said people logged on to find information when they heard that something terrible had happened.
"The first information they would see presented is the information selected by the algorithms on those platforms for them to see.
"You can't possibly look at what a billion people are saying simultaneously, that's just too much information.
"So they select information to present to you. What do they select?" he continued.
"They don't select based on who's trying to do the most responsible job possible, who's applied journalistic standards ... What can we prove? What do we know for sure and how do we convey that information in a way that doesn't lead to further violence?
"What they instead said was, 'What's making the most people react angrily or react in horror?'"
Engagement isn't only driven by people agreeing, Ahmed stressed.
"Platforms choose to give us that information first. Why? Because they want us arguing on their platforms.
"It's a really cynical business model," Ahmed said. "They just present to us what they want us to see and then they put ads next to it.
"It's like putting ads on a car crash, isn't it?"
Crime is 'happening on your premises' - Starmer
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned social media companies that crime is "happening on your premises".
"Inciting violence online is a criminal offence. That is not a matter of free speech — it is a criminal offence," he said last week.
The Southport dance studio attack saw Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, lose their lives — and others — both adults and children, badly injured.
AP reported one of the first outlets to report the false name of the attacker was an account on the X social media platform that purports to be a news channel.
A Facebook page of the same name said it is managed by people in Pakistan and the US.
A related website last week showed a mix of possibly AI-generated news and entertainment stories, as well as an apology for "the misleading information" in its article on the Southport stabbings.
By the time the apology was posted, the incorrect identification had been repeated widely on social media.
"Some of the key actors are probably just generating traffic, possibly for monetisation," said Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, a think tank that looks at issues including integration and national identity.
The misinformation was then spread further by "people committed to the UK domestic far right", he said.
SHARE ME