By Alistair Smout and Nick Vant
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned social media companies that they must uphold laws that prohibit the incitement of violence online after misinformation around a fatal mass stabbing earlier in the week sparked violent scenes.
A 17-year-old boy appeared in an English court on Thursday charged with the murder of three young girls in a knife attack at a summer dance class in Southport that has shocked the nation and sparked two nights of violent protests.
The disturbances followed the rapid spread of false information on social media that the suspect in the stabbings was a radical Islamist migrant, with anti-immigrant protesters descending on Southport from elsewhere, attacking police and targeting a mosque.
Starmer said that the disturbances were not legitimate protests, saying it was criminal disorder that was "clearly driven by far-right hatred" before adding a warning to tech companies.
"Let me also say to large social media companies, and those who run them, violent disorder clearly whipped up online: that is also a crime. It's happening on your premises, and the law must be upheld everywhere," he said at a news conference, adding there was a "balance to be struck" in handling such platforms.
"It's an amazing opportunity that we all enjoy... There is also a responsibility that goes with it. That's a space for a mature conversation to take place."
BLIZZARD OF FALSE INFORMATION
Campaign group Hope Not Hate said that the riot in Southport on Tuesday followed a "blizzard of false information around the attack, much of it circulated by far-right accounts online."
The 17-year-old suspect was not initially named due to rules regarding children who are charged with crimes, before a judge then ruled that media could name him as Axel Rudakubana. He turns 18 next week and police have said he was born in Cardiff.
But a claim that the suspect was an asylum seeker or immigrant has been viewed at least 15.7 million times across X, Facebook (NASDAQ:META), Instagram and other platforms, a Reuters analysis showed.
A false claim that he was an undocumented migrant who arrived in a small boat appeared on the website "Channel 3 Now", who later apologised for publishing information that was misleading and not accurate.
Internet personality Andrew Tate on Tuesday shared a picture of a man he said was responsible for the attack with the caption "straight off the boat", but the claim was also incorrect as it was a picture of a 51-year-old man arrested for a separate stabbing in Ireland last year.
Thousands of people online also falsely claimed another man pictured with a knife in French media after an attack in Annecy last June was the Southport suspect. The man, a Syrian refugee, has been in pre-trial detention in France since then.
Separately, a Channel 4 analysis showed that 49% of traffic on social media platform X referencing 'Southport Muslim' - in reference to an unevidenced claim about the attacker's religion - came from the United States, with 30% coming from Britain.
Police have said the incident was not being treated as terror-related, and have urged people not to speculate on details while the investigation continues.
Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform Party, on Tuesday said he wondered "whether the truth is being withheld from us" as he questioned why the incident wasn't being treated as terror-related and asked if the suspect had been monitored by security services.
After criticism from several people including Starmer's deputy Angela Rayner, accusing Farage of stoking conspiracy theories, Farage said he thought his "gentle questions" were fair and reasonable while adding that the internet had at the same time been awash with unfounded theories.
Starmer declined to be drawn into commenting on what Farage had said, reiterating that his focus was on the families and police officers impacted.
But Starmer warned that any misinformation that interfered in the work of authorities could jeopardise attempts to hold a fair trial.
"The price for a trial that is prejudiced is ultimately paid by the victims and their families who are deprived of the justice that they deserve," he said.