Plaid Cymru calls for tougher action against social media giants for fanning racism and intolerance
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Rhun ap Iorwerth, has urged the UK Government to take “a much tougher stance” in holding social media companies to account for the spread of “racial and religious intolerance” on their sites.
The Plaid Cymru leader also warned that social media giants, together with traditional media and politicians bear responsibility for a ‘rise in racial and religious intolerance’.
False information spread on social media about the identity of the alleged Southport knife attacker has been seen as playing a role in sparking the recent violence across parts of the UK, leading to calls for tougher regulation.
Experts have highlighted a number of high-profile online figures sharing false information about the suspect, now named as 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana.
Sunder Katwala, director of the think tank British Future, pointed to posts by former actor Laurence Fox and former kickboxer Andrew Tate, while others said misinformation had been used by a “vocal minority” to sow division and “fuel their own agenda and trigger a summer of thrill-seeking impulsive insurrection”.
Commentators have been particularly concerned about the impact of content on X, formerly Twitter, whose owner Elon Musk has been heavily criticised for his own posts about the disorder.
The billionaire has engaged with posts by far-right figure Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, suggested that civil war in the UK was “inevitable”, and retweeted a fake Daily Telegraph headline suggesting rioters would be sent to detention camps in the Falkland Islands.
Taoiseach
Mr ap Iorwerth highlighted measures announced by the Taoiseach of Ireland, Simon Harris, who announced more stringent codes of conduct to hit social media companies with fines of tens of millions of euros if they breach Irish laws.
He urged the British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, to “speed up changes in the law to combat the spread of racial and religious intolerance on social media sites”.
The Plaid Cymru leader also called for measures to be taken to address the underlying causes of extremism in order to “stem the growth of this social crisis”.
He said that it was crucial to end the “normalisation of racism and religious intolerance”, and “ensuring that communities don’t feel forgotten, and by accepting responsibility for endemic poverty and deprivation.”
Intolerance
“The recent rise in racial and religious intolerance hasn’t emerged from nowhere, Mr ap Iorwerth said.
“Rioters chanting ‘stop the boats’ and ‘we want our country back’ reflect language used by politicians, including Prime Ministers, MPs, and Senedd members.
“For many years, politicians have normalised intolerance – amplified by parts of the British media – in order to deflect blame onto others for the political failure in addressing the scourge of deprivation in our communities.
“We in Wales must now challenge the conditions that embolden the far right, to stem the growth of this social crisis. We do that by ending the normalisation of racism and religious intolerance.
“We do it by ensuring that communities don’t feel forgotten, and by accepting responsibility for endemic poverty and deprivation. If we fail to address those underlying issues, the feeling of isolation that make people vulnerable to extremist ideas will only worsen.
“Those newspapers that poison our public discourse bear a responsibility for this crisis, but it also extends beyond traditional media to digital platforms like Twitter, now X, which Elon Musk has turned into a breeding ground for hate and division. He in particular plays a significant role in this current crisis and must be held accountable.
“It is encouraging to see the Taoiseach of Ireland announce more stringent codes of conduct to hit social media companies with fines of tens of millions of euros if they breach Irish laws. The UK must also take a much tougher stance, and work internationally to ensure there is no escape from accountability for these social media giants.
“I urge the UK Government to speed up changes in the law to combat the spread of racial and religious intolerance on social media sites, and to lead international efforts to hold them accountable.”
On Friday (9 August) the Prime Minister said the UK Government will have to “look more broadly at social media” after the recent rioting, in an apparent hint that further regulation could be considered.
Sir Keir Starmer told broadcasters: “I do think that we’re going to have to look more broadly at social media after this disorder.”
He added that social media executives should be “mindful of the first priority, which is to ensure that our communities are safe and secure”.
Legally responsible
The Online Safety Act became law last October and will, for the first time, make firms legally responsible for keeping users safe when they use their services.
It will require platforms to put in place clear and proportionate safety measures to prevent illegal and other harmful content from appearing and spreading on their sites.
The biggest platforms could face billions of pounds in fines if they do not comply.
Named managers could be held criminally liable in some instances, and sites may face having their access limited in the most severe cases.
Ofcom, which will oversee the new laws, on Wednesday urged social media companies to do more to deal with content stirring up hatred or provoking violence on Britain’s streets.
The watchdog said: “In a few months, new safety duties under the Online Safety Act will be in place, but you can act now – there is no need to wait to make your sites and apps safer for users.”
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Again, Rhun is on it👏
Yes, lots of people are. Join the queue. Start by cancelling your twitter account.
Despite the evident rubbish on those big social media sites the same silly buggers go back for more. You’ll never ban it unless you impose constraints on internet access and then we’ll get squeals of dissent from those who call for a ban !
No need for a ban, just consistent enforcement of robust legislation that imposes fines of billions of pounds/euros for each breach. Big corporations like X or Facebook could afford this, but not as something consistent. Anything less than a fine in the billions is likely to be regarded as merely the price of doing business in the UK, or wherever. And instead of company executives maybe being seen as liable, ensure that the buck does genuinely stop with them, and if needs be, criminalises them. I know the above sounds harsh, but unless there is a very robust response to… Read more »
Which is why sensible people walk away from it and the UK government levies heavy fines. As soon as musk bought it, I gave it a short while the saw the direction and decided I will not be part of it. At the moment, I see news orgs, politicos etc. giving it the free speech and but but but angle but it keeps musk in business. Anyone a tesla owner? Anyone using starlink?
Bans are tricky. But the platform can ban people for hate speech, but musk encourages racists, why would you want to be on such a platform.
I agree with many of the comments here. But in addition to social media, I think the news media play an unintended role in fanning the flames. I suspect many of the perpetrators of last week’s disorder thrive on news coverage.
In what way? Though gbeebies is certainly an issue.
Hmm. Lots of political parties are saying the same thing but many people are also pointing out this idea (ignoring the current example) also involves censoring legal free speech. We are already increasingly finding speech being censored (try biology / gender) as the party in power does not like the attitude underpinning it. Many dictatorships run on the same approach but we are meant to be a democracy and so are meant to support varieties of views. The more we merge our standards with that of dictatorshios the more worried we should be.
it doesn’t involve censoring anything. it involves making the social media giants legally liable as publishers of the content that they algorithmically push on people, with no responsibility other than to maximise “engagement” (which at this point just means polarisation and conflict). If somebody wants to spout appalling lies about refugees on social media, they can still be free to do so, but meta, musk et al should bloody well be held liable for publishing that content the moment their algorithms start pushing it beyond the immediate social circle of the original poster. it’s not hard to understand. I don’t… Read more »
Yesterday I was looking up how to adjust my bike brakes and YouTube decided to recommend me watch a live stream of a funeral in Aberystwyth.
Less we forget. With free speech comes responsibility. You don’t have the right to say anything, although those who want to curtail free speech will use terrorism & hate speech legislation passed to hinder debate and criticism. A good example is Israel /Gaza conflict. Even calling for a ceasefire if an actor can get you sacked or replaced as seen with American/Palestinian actress Bella Hadid who was dropped from a Adidas advert because Israel complained because the advert referenced the 1972 Munich games and Hadid has Palestinian heritage.
Which views from Tate are worthy? Farage? Alex Jones perhaps? Convicted felon Trump (remember him? trying to invoke a violent coup?). That is not censorship removing them, they have other outlets for their bile. But musk likes them on his platform. Why did musk suspend white dudes for harris or people that demonstrate free speech that musk does not like?
Don’t forget ARTD.
Ooooh! Plaid an example of calling the kettle black!!!
Oh, really.? Would you like to support your statement by giving us any examples of things Rhun ap Iorwerth has said to fan racism and intolerance in that case?
I agree with Rhun ap Iorwerth when he says theses companies must be made more accountable. For example. Go onto Facebook, X, Tik Tok, YouTube , there are those spreading hate & prejudice with impunity. Some even are making money having their accounts monetized. Try reporting overt racist content. Weeks later it’s still there. The size of a company, whether it’s X (Twitter), Google, Microsoft , Amazon, whatever, shouldn’t be treated differently to any other business whose platform is used by those to spread hate. Also it doesn’t help when the likes of X owner multi-billionaire Elon Musk himself spreads… Read more »
Twitter needs to be taken from Musk without remuneration. He’s another one trying to profit from chaos, hate, anger and division caused by media outlets for attention and clicks.
Take it from him and give it back to the adults. Watch him cry!
Yes the current unrest in UK has contributed to this debate, but there are plenty of examples of supporters of UK political parties of all hues during recent GE that wandered into telling untruths about each party, politicians were less reticent to intervene then.
Any enforcement has to be applied even handed or accusations of bias will prevail.
Spot on Rhun.
However many working class people are genuinely concerned about the hundreds of thousands of people arriving in the UK on small boats each year and without the usual background checks. That they are escaping from a peaceful country like France compounds the lack of understanding and worry. Working class people also fear even more competition for scarce resources such as social housing, healthcare, schooling etc etc. I believe these are legitimate concerns that should be heard and addressed.
“Working class people also fear even more competition for scarce resources such as social housing, healthcare, schooling etc etc.”
Stuff is scare because wealth and control of wealth are concentrated in a small minority. Who are most probably quite relieved that blame is being levelled elsewhere.
Of course. The rich have sucked up the wealth and tory policy has destroyed our infrastructure. As a consequence working class people are competing for ever shrinking resources like housing and healthcare etc
You have made the same comment in other similar articles and there have been replies pointing out how wrong you are!
There have been reply’s but none of them have proved her wrong. Disagreeing with someone does make you right, there are plenty of people who see it the same way as the poster.
Known in years to come as the Fat Shanks Effect, which froze the UK.s ‘immune system’ allowing @Slash, Burn, Pillage and Leggitt UK to pull off the Crime of Century…
Why is Plaid, asking the UK Government to do something, as if a supplicant?
Presumably because regulating social media isn’t a devolved competence?
Jess Phillips already on the case and what people need to do.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/10/jess-phillips-calls-x-a-place-of-misery-as-she-vows-to-scale-back-use
Call for all the sanctions you want, unless you have the means, people like musk will ignore you. His bottom line is already sinking at twitter, make it nose dive.