In the UK, hostility against Muslims fuelled by social media

British police are bracing for more riots this weekend, a day after the riots that rocked the city of Sunderland on Friday and days after a deadly knife attack in Southport, in northern England. The British far right is on the rise again, fueled by misinformation and new technologies. This is far from a new phenomenon, but its methods and scale are changing dangerously.

On Friday night, the streets of Sunderland resembled a war scene: police vans ablaze, tear gas canisters, rubbish and projectiles raining down on police officers. Chaos has spread to several cities across the UK since the knife attack on 29 July that claimed the lives of three children aged six, seven and nine and left ten other people dead.

Just hours after the incident, an AI-generated image was viewed 900,000 times on social media. It shows bearded men in Muslim attire outside the British Parliament with the caption: “ We must protect our children! “.

A “fake news” that sets the powder alight

Since then, no fewer than thirty-five violent riots have broken out. Supporters of conspiracy and populist movements have attacked mosques in particular. In a snowball effect, social networks are full of videos of rioters chanting ” No surrender ” And ” English’til I die » (« no surrender ” And ” English till death ” in French).

Their anger is fuelled by the unfounded rumour that the suspect in the attack is a Muslim asylum seeker. And even though in reality he is a 17-year-old British boy – whose family is originally from Rwanda, according to media reports – it has fuelled the resurgence of anti-migrant and Islamophobic sentiment.

This violence directed against the Muslim community is not new. Among the groups that demonstrate, the English Defence League (EDL) regularly organises riots. Those in Southport and Sunderland recall its peak in 2010.

But today, platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and Telegram are fertile breeding grounds for hate speech and racist remarks. On Suno, artificially generated songs like “Southport Saga” chant “hunt them down somehow.”

An army of bots is sweeping social networks

On the one hand, human exchanges on networks allow activists to organize themselves towards a common goal. But on the other, automatic and spontaneous publications are legion. Tech Against Terrorism, an initiative launched by a branch of the UN, cited a TikTok account whose “ All posts were related to Southport. Despite the lack of previous content, the posts racked up over 57,000 cumulative views in just a few hours. This suggests that bot networks are actively promoting this material. »

In recent years, the extreme right has been mobilizing more ferociously on the English streets, especially on Armistice Day, and regularly around Westminster. A threat that is evolving in the United Kingdom at an algorithmic speed.

For Dr Tim Squirrell, Director of Communications at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, “ The strength of online information, which is the worst in years, is exacerbating a febrile environment. Added to this is the ability of anyone to create unverified information and spread inflammatory content intended to inflame tensions.. »

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s warning

The government has announced the creation of a ” national capacity ” to punish individual troublemakers and hold the platforms involved in disinformation accountable. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday called out social media executives: “Let me say to the big social media companies, and those who run them: Violent disorder is clearly being fueled online, and it’s also a crime. It’s happening in your backyard, and the law must apply everywhere.”he hammered home during a press conference.

But for the think tank Labour Together, ” algorithms act at the social level and very quickly. And for the moment, there is no clear direction from the government regarding its strategy to combat disinformation “.