The British Prime Minister spoke Keir Starmer About his government’s vision for activity far right On the internet and its various platforms, he said that “social media is not a lawless zone when it comes to the security of Britain,” and that those he described as “thugs” and inciters of violence “will face the judgment of the judiciary for their actions and words.”
Social media in general, and specifically “X” and “Telegram”, have embraced the activity of populists since the beginning of their movements in the United Kingdom more than a week ago, as they exchange calls for gatherings and demonstrations and messages of incitement against immigrants, especially the Muslim community, whose members have been subjected to attacks on them, their property and their places of worship in recent days.
Since the start of the far-right protests, the owner of the “X” platform has been involved. Elon Musk In the events in a way that was interpreted as support and encouragement for the populists, and whenever he wrote something related to the events, this prompted a denunciatory response from the Labor Party government, to the point that British politicians and legislators demanded that the American billionaire be questioned before the UK Parliament as soon as its sessions resumed.
Britain’s problem with social media platforms is not only Musk’s “support” for the far right, but also the inability to control online content that incites violence and hate crimes against immigrants. This varies sometimes due to “incomplete” or limited legislation in this area, and other times due to the difficulty of condemning the content of posts and shared images.
Shortcomings in the laws
The Mayor of London said Sadiq KhanThe laws used to combat misinformation are “inadequate and do not keep pace with the country’s needs in this area”, calling for a review after the widespread online spread of lies that contributed to the outbreak of riots in various parts of the United Kingdom after the crime that took place in the city of Southport.
For two days after the Southport incident, which claimed the lives of three girls, a false story about the identity of the perpetrator spread on social media, indicating that he was a Muslim immigrant who arrived in the country illegally in 2023. Although the police later denied this and published the real name of the perpetrator, the first story had sparked the anger of populists.
The Mayor of London, one of the UK’s most senior Muslim politicians, stressed the need for ministers to move “very quickly” to review the “Safe Browsing” law passed by the previous parliament in light of the violent unrest that the country witnessed after the Southport incident, in which dozens of police officers were injured or fractured.
The Safe Browsing Internet Act is considered an achievement of the previous Conservative government, which was passed in October 2023, but it has not yet been fully implemented because the country’s content regulator (Ofcom) is still preparing its implementing regulations in coordination and consultation with registered content producers and publishers in Britain.
The law gave Ofcom the power to fine social media outlets and publishers of electronic content in general up to £18 million, or 10% of their annual sales value, for violating state instructions and controls, but the British regulatory body is not expected to complete its implementing regulations before the beginning of 2025, according to the Guardian newspaper.
Warnings from the British government
To avoid the harm of waiting for the regulations, Ofcom has written to online content producers asking them to monitor and block material that incites violence or incites against migrants, and Starmer and senior ministers in his government have warned against failing to comply with these demands and combat material that encourages people to commit hate crimes.
In a recent YouGov poll of more than 2,000 British adults, 66% said social media companies should be held accountable for posts that incited or continue to incite criminal behaviour during far-right protests after July 29.
According to the same survey, 70% of Britons believe that social media is not sufficiently regulated, and 71% of the survey sample said that these platforms did not do enough to counter misinformation about the Southport incident and the subsequent violence and riots.
Amir Al-Nimrat, director of the Centre for Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence at the University of East London, said the problem lies in the novelty of the situation the government is dealing with in current events.
In his interview with Asharq, Al-Nimrat pointed out that the “Internet Safety” law, which was passed last year, did not cover all aspects related to this matter, and perhaps he did not expect it.
He pointed out that the false narrative about the Southport incident, which sparked far-right protests, continued for at least two days under the eyes of the competent oversight in Britain, and “Ofcom” was unable to confront it because of its connection to a murder, the form of disclosure of its details is determined by the judiciary.
For his part, Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds explained that the government will review the framework of legislation regulating electronic publishing after it became clear that there are aspects of the “Safe Browsing on the Internet” law that have not yet come into force, and may need a new reading to keep pace with the developments that have emerged after the recent violence, as he put it.
“Elon Musk’s War”
In the same context, the number of those facing trials in light of the incidents in which populists attacked police officers and immigrant communities is increasing, as about 150 people have been charged out of about 500 who were arrested, while at least 10 have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from several months to three years so far.
Many of these people, according to sociologist Stephanie Alice Baker, became involved in the events after being influenced by what was reported on social media. The videos and images that spread of violence and assaults encouraged a group of like-minded people to get involved in the movement. “There is a tipping point where people feel emboldened to act on their feelings, and this usually happens when they see other people doing the same thing.”
X is one of the most prominent social media platforms that the far right relies on in its current movement, so much so that several local media reports have likened Elon Musk’s posts on his platform to “matches that ignite events in every city and region in Britain.”
While the American billionaire considered the events following the Southport incident as “the beginning of a civil war in the country,” British officials criticized his posts, one of which described the state’s attempts to control online content, as an attempt to suppress freedom of expression and confiscate the views of Britons in their society.
“When Musk claims to defend free speech, he is setting the stage for its enemies,” said James Moore, writing for The Independent, noting that X has become “a breeding ground for racist and far-right views, as well as facilitating the organization of riots that could be staged elsewhere in Europe.”
“Telegram Alternative”
The controversy between Musk and the British government has led to heavy criticism of the American billionaire by politicians and media professionals in the United Kingdom, and he has threatened to be questioned in the House of Commons. A spokesman for the European Commission even said that “an investigation may be opened with Musk in the bloc regarding what he publishes and incites violence in the events in England and Northern Ireland.”
British technology journalist Laurie Clark said, “As a result of the official crackdown on the X platform, populists in Britain have begun to seek a safe haven in the X application.”Telegram) which has long been known as a fertile environment for spreading the culture of extremism and terrorism, and then became a platform for the Russian narrative in the Ukrainian war, and today the far right in the European continent is trying to use it.
Clarke pointed out in a report in Politico magazine that there are populist accounts on Telegram that have more than 10,000 followers, but the application’s management has shown interest in confronting all content that calls for violence and has responded to requests to track these accounts and close them immediately, according to statements issued by the company’s managers.
Tommy Robinson, a prominent populist activist who the British government says played a major role in recent events, has three Telegram accounts, including one for live broadcasting, with around 2,600 followers so far, while his X account, which was reactivated months ago, has around a million followers.