Police in Pakistan have charged a man with cyberterrorism for his alleged role in spreading misinformation thought to have led to widespread rioting in the UK, a senior investigator has said.

The suspect was identified as Farhan Asif, 32, a freelance web developer, said Imran Kishwar, the deputy inspector general of investigations in Lahore.

Asif is accused of spreading misinformation from YouTube and Facebook after an attacker stabbed to death three girls and injured 10 other people on 29 July at a dance class in Southport. The false information claimed that the knifeman was an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in the UK and had a name that suggested he was Muslim.

After misinformation led to a violent mob attacking a mosque near the site of the stabbing the next day, police took the unusual step of clarifying that the suspect was born in the UK.

Channel3 Now, an account on the X social media platform that purports to be a news channel, was one of the first outlets to report a false name for the attacker. A Facebook account for the channel said it was managed by people in Pakistan and the US.

The site’s editor in chief posted an apology on 31 July for “the misleading information published in a recent article on our website, Channel3 Now”, adding: “We deeply regret any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.”

But the false reports were widely disseminated and are blamed for fuelling more than a week of rioting that broke out across England and in Northern...

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