Anti-immigrant violence explodes across Britain over fake news.

[BlueWavePsych]

What’s behind the anti-immigrant violence that has exploded across Britain? Here’s a look

LONDON (AP) — Britain has been convulsed by violence for the past week as crowds spouting anti-immigrant and Islamophobic slogans clashed with police. The disturbances have been fueled by right-wing activists using social media to spread misinformation about a knife attack that killed three girls during a Taylor Swift-themed dance event.

The violence, some of Britain’s worst in years, has led to hundreds of arrests as the government pledges that the rioters will feel “the full force of the law” after hurling bricks and other projectiles at police, looting shops and attacking hotels used to house asylum-seekers.

The rumor was included in an article published by Channel 3Now, a site with suspected links to Russia, Logically said. The article was then cited by Russian state-affiliated news organizations including RT and Tass.

More than a dozen towns and cities have been caught up in the unrest including London, Hartlepool, Manchester, Middlesborough, Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Belfast, Nottingham and Leeds.

https://apnews.com/article/britain-riots-unrest-social-media-misinformation-attack-5824d3136675e10d6a25c9e17287c994

See also ...

Violent, far-right riots overran some UK cities this weekend. What happened, and what comes next?
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/05/uk/uk-far-right-protests-explainer-gbr-intl/index.html

Can easily happen here. There are preemptive lessons to be learned here.

[usonian]

1. Elon Musk's misinformation machine made the horrors of Southport much worse

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/67463/elon-musks-misinformation-machine-made-the-horrors-of-southport-much-worse

The X owner’s commitment to "free speech absolutism" contributed to a whirlwind of false reporting around the perpetrator’s identity. Why does he seem to care so little about the truth?

By Alan Rusbridger

It’s unlikely that Elon Musk has ever heard of Southport, far less visited it. He has five or six companies to run, after all, and has been busy this week sounding off about Venezuela, Kamala Harris, puberty blockers and why the legacy media lie to you.

So it’s probable that some ugly riots in a seaside town somewhere in northwest England will not have registered with the strange genius who may well be the richest man in the world.

And it’s equally probable that, if you told Musk that he was in was in some way responsible for these riots, 5,000 miles away from the seven homes he owns/owned in California, he would scoff.

But that’s how it is. When Musk decided to splash out $44bn to buy what was then called Twitter, he took ultimate responsibility for the speech of 350m-odd users of the platform. And Twitter—now called X—is where a foul virus spread in the wake of the horrendous stabbings of numerous children in Southport on Monday. That virus led to the rioting the very next day—and since. And Musk enabled it.

[dalton99a]

2. +1