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Southport misinformation ‘turbo charged’ by foreign bots online

20 Nov 2024 3 minute read
A car burns on Parliament Road, in Middlesbrough, during an anti-immigration protest. Photo Owen Humphreys/PA Wire

The spread of misinformation during the post-Southport riots was “turbo-charged” by foreign bots, the police officer in charge of UK counter-terrorism has said.

Matt Jukes also hit out at “unhelpful” domestic commentators who know that police cannot release certain information during ongoing court proceedings but present that as conspiracy.

The latest figures from the National Police Chiefs’ Council show policing disorder over the summer cost £31.7million.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is among those who have claimed there has been a cover-up over the Southport murders.

So far 1,590 people have been arrested, of whom 17% were children aged 17 or under.

Problematic

Speaking to journalists at a policing conference in Westminster on Wednesday, Mr Jukes said: “The vast majority of that messaging, which was problematic online, was domestic, driven by people who lived in our communities, who were stoking fear in those communities.

“But we have seen that turbo-charged by bots online. And so as we were tracking the amount of traffic, hateful traffic, during the 24-hour period across the days, we would see tremendous spikes as around midnight, bots kicked in.

“And we would just see that the amplification, automation of that reach of those messages which were at times hateful, at times misinformation.”

Some of the bots are thought to have been based in Russia.

A small percentage of the arrests linked to the disorder were for online offences, while the rest were for disorder or violence in real life.

Violence

Mr Jukes went on: “There’s a legend which has emerged that the thought police were out arresting hundreds and hundreds of people for having opinions.

“And the reality is the hundreds and hundreds of people who were arrested were arrested because of their suspected involvement in violence, criminal damage, direct harms in communities.”

He also hit out at commentators online who have claimed information has been covered up about the Southport investigation.

“We do need responsible commentators,” Mr Jukes said. “It is unhelpful when people who I suspect fully well know what the constraints are on reporting during ongoing legal proceedings, point to limited disclosures or limits on what can be said as evidence of cover up and conspiracy.”

He also called on social media platforms to take responsibility for misinformation.

“One of the driving groups in relation to disorder during the summer was 10,000 plus people on Telegram, a company which has got, I believe, 900 million users, and have only recently got in the region of 100 staff,” Mr Jukes said.

“So there is a need for responsible investment by governments in law enforcement, by governments in regulators, and by people who make billions out of the information environment.”


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Jeff
Jeff
11 days ago

farage will still push the boundaries (probably thinks he has a hall pass from his chum, 47), someone who took tate at his word without fact checking and continues to this day. Not forgetting trumps chum, Musk, had a go as well as his platform being a useful tool for the lies.

Adrian
Adrian
11 days ago

On the subject of misinformation, can we please not forget that Cooper & Starmer were labelling people as far-right, and criminals, before the cases had even been heard. They’d no idea at the time what the political leanings of any those people were, and they had no business prejudicing the outcome of any criminal proceedings.

It later turned out that there’s probably quite a bit they did know at the time though: they’re hiding behind Hoyle for the moment, but make no mistake, they will ultimately be made to explain what they knew, and when.

Last edited 11 days ago by Adrian
rj700
rj700
11 days ago

Poorly handled by the police and government.

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