By Stephen Dowse
On July 29, Southport experienced a tragedy like no other. A stabbing attack at a children's dance class resulted in the deaths of three children and the serious injury of several others. In the wake of the attack, misinformation quickly began to spread on social media, suggesting it was a terror incident and falsely naming and identifying the attacker as a Muslim asylum-seeker.
The idea garnered significant traction on social media, with 4,776 posts on X sharing the attacker's false name between July 29 and August 8, which then appeared on X’s UK trending page. The attack and the misinformation that followed sparked a series of riots in towns and cities across the UK.
"Farage’s comments were unjustified and acted as a gateway enabling greater circulation of online conspiracies surrounding the incident."
The severity of the riots, which resulted in the arrest of 1,280 people, means there must be accountability for those who willingly spread misinformation. In particular, Nigel Farage must be held to account for his baseless claim that the police were intentionally withholding information about the attacker. In a video posted on Facebook on July 30, Farage asked, “whether the truth is being withheld from us, I don’t know the answer to that”, with regards to the attack being a terror incident, after the police had designated it as non-terror-related. Farage’s comments were unjustified and acted as a gateway enabling greater circulation of online conspiracies surrounding the incident.
Farage is the leader of Reform UK, a party that won 14.3% of the vote in the most recent general election. He currently has over 1 million followers on Facebook, and the video has been viewed over 335,000 times. Commanding such a large audience, Farage’s comments lit touchpapers in communities already angered and grieving following the attack. Farage’s position as an elected representative legitimised his claim and similar claims made by conspiracy theorists online.
In August, attempting to justify his comments, Farage argued on LBC that if the full truth surrounding the identity of the perpetrator had been revealed then the riots and conspiracies would not have been able to spread, stating “had those questions been answered, far from stoking riots it would have actually calmed them down considerably.”
Yet Farage should be aware that since the attacker was under 18, they received automatic media anonymity under the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act. It therefore becomes impossible for Farage to expect the police to reveal their full identity and, given it feels highly likely that Farage would be aware of this legislation, it appears impossible that Farage could have been asking the police for them to reveal the full identity of the perpetrator in the original Facebook video.
In the same interview, when asked if he had any evidence of the police misleading people Farage responded by stating “I don’t know.” We therefore must conclude that in the original Facebook video, Farage questioned the police’s statement without justification or reasonable motivation. By extension, Farage wrongfully spread the idea that the police could be lying about the incident which likely misinformed a large number of people.
Finally, it’s essential to understand the further consequences Farage’s comments have had. Neil Basu, a former counterterrorism chief, has argued that the video undermined trust in the police forces, giving “a false basis for the attacks on the police,” during the riots. This gives us an additional reason to condone Farage’s actions as it appears to have furthered distrust in the police and increased the aggression towards the police seen during the riots.
It’s clear Farage’s Facebook video encouraged and legitimised conspiracy theories regarding the Southport attack and the police’s conduct without legitimate evidence. Given Farage’s continued unwillingness to apologise for the video, there must be repercussions for his actions. Likewise, given the rising presence of misinformation in politics, as seen with Sunak’s misleading claim during the election campaign that Labour’s tax plans would cost families £2000, it is more important than ever to hold those who spread misinformation to account. Without accountability, trust in politics and our institutions will continue to decline.
Image: FMT
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