As riots continue to spread across the United Kingdom after more than a week of civil disorder, UK regulators have instructed social media platforms to pull down “harmful,” riot-related content. According to the UK government, social media platforms played a significant role in fueling the violence by spreading misinformation regarding the Southport incident that triggered the riots.
Riots broke out after the incident when false claims that the three girls killed at Southport were murdered by an asylum seeker circulated on social media, resulting in a wave of violence that has lasted more than 10 days and led to more than 400 arrests. Ofcom group director for Online Safety Gill Whitehead is now calling for stricter action against social media posts that “provoke violence” or “stir up hatred.”
Whitehead said the new Online Safety Act will be in place but asked social media entities to act now and remove social media posts that inflame the ongoing civil disorder in the country. She noted that pre-Online Safety Act rules required video-sharing platforms in the UK to shield their users from videos that could incite hatred or violence.
As such, Whitehead said, Ofcom expects these platforms to make sure their systems are suitably equipped to “anticipate and respond” to the potential proliferation of videos of the ongoing riots. When the Online Safety Act takes effect, social media companies will be subject to fines of up to £18 million or criminal action against their executives if they don’t ensure their platforms don’t share videos that incite violence.
In the meantime, the UK has already outlawed sharing such content on video-sharing sites. With Ofcom still figuring out the specifics of the Online Safety Act, Whitehead says authorities should take action against social media posts that are outlawed by current laws. The statement came soon after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer quarrelled with Tesla and Twitter/X CEO Elon Musk after the billionaire claimed that the UK was barreling toward a civil war.
An official spokesman from the prime minister’s office rejected the claim and emphasized that it had “no justification.” When Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was asked about Musk’s comment, she warned people against spreading misinformation on online spaces.
Some senior officials in the government have accused online sites with Russian ties and “far-right thugs” of fanning the flames of violence online. Rayner called on social media companies to deal with fake news and misinformation on their platforms and asked people to avoid spreading hate both online and offline.
For companies that have interests in the communication field, such as Momo Inc. (NASDAQ: MOMO), the developments in the UK should be of interest because these developments could usher in a new dimension in the way governments regulate media outlets, especially online.
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