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Sunday, January 19, 2025

Southport attack: Did social media fan the flames of riot? - BBC

It’s become a familiar pattern of events: a violent, terrifying attack unfolds, innocent people are killed, and social media is set alight with unfounded - and often incorrect - accusations about about the assailant's identity and what the motivation was.

Think back to the stabbing attacks in Sydney earlier this year, falsely blamed on a Jewish student, or even the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July.

It’s the same with Monday’s attack on a children’s holiday dance and yoga session in Southport, England.

A false name - attributed to the 17-year-old accused of killing three little girls as well as injuring eight other children and two adults - spread like wildfire across X, formerly known as Twitter.

The BBC is not repeating the false name here to avoid spreading misinformation. Media organisations cannot give the suspect's real name for legal reasons, but Merseyside Police have said the name shared on social media is incorrect.

Nevertheless, posts on X sharing the fake name were actively promoted to users and racked up millions of views.

Just as with the Sydney attacks and the attempted shooting of Mr Trump, X was the focal point for untrue claims before they spilled onto other sites.

It wasn’t just this fake name either. There were false claims the attacker was a refugee who arrived in the UK by boat in 2023 and unfounded speculation he is Muslim. Some of these posts were accompanied by Islamophobic and racist hate.

Merseyside Police have confirmed that the...



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