Police address falsehoods including ‘incorrect’ name as far-right activists and conspiracy theorists share content
A flood of misinformation about the Southport attack has been spread on numerous social media platforms by sources ranging from far-right activists to fake news websites and conspiracy theorists.
On Tuesday afternoon, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, urged the public to avoid “unhelpful” speculation about the attack, which left three children dead, saying social media companies “need to take some responsibility” for the content being shared on their sites.
“Above all, this is about young children,” she said. “This is about children and their families who will be grieving, and the many other children who were involved yesterday who will be facing great trauma as well.”
The only details released about the suspect by police are that he is a 17-year-old from the village of Banks in Lancashire, who was born in Cardiff.
But on Tuesday night a protest by hundreds of far-right activists, believed to be supporters of the English Defence League, saw missiles thrown at police and a local mosque attacked.
The incident became the latest to raise questions about the policing of content by social media companies, and official watchdogs, and whether the law is fit is for purpose.
A prominent British conspiracy theorist had earlier been filming at the crime scene. A YouTube video where he calls for emergency military rule and mass deportations received 30,000 views in the...
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