Yvette Cooper today warned hostile states may be ‘amplifying’ online misinformation blamed for whipping up riots in the wake of the Southport stabbing attack.
The Home Secretary did not rule out foreign interference as one of the factors behind the outbreak of violent disorder on Britain’s streets.
But, following a fresh night of chaos across the country, Ms Cooper insisted the Government’s immediate focus was on clamping down on local groups.
She also issued another demand for social media companies to remove criminal material and hate-filled misinformation from their sites.
The Home Secretary called for tech bosses to hold ‘a sense of responsibility towards communities’ amid the far right violence.
Yvette Cooper warned hostile states may be ‘amplifying’ online misinformation blamed for whipping up riots in the wake of the Southport stabbing attack
A car burns on Parliament Road in Middlesbrugh after it was set alight by far right thugs
A man dressed in England and Union Jack flags faces police officers in Middlesbrough
Lord Walney, the Government’s adviser on political violence and disruption, has said far right actors are ‘almost certainly’ being ‘aided and abetted’ by hostile states.
He claimed they had helped ‘in creating and planning disinformation to put out false narratives’.
James Cleverly, Ms Cooper’s predecessor as home secretary, has also said the riots have ‘all the hallmarks’ of something that has partly been stoked from abroad.
Appearing on Sky News this morning, Ms Cooper was asked if she had similarly determined whether foreign states could be involved in helping sow the chaos.
‘We know that there can be amplification of social media activity,’ she replied.
‘I think our focus right now is on local groups and organisations, including some of those who are fulled by far right extremists.
‘But also those who were just local looters who came to join in and committed crimes and that is our focus right now.
‘To make sure they pay the price for their crimes.’
She added: ‘There is also an issue about the online criminality that we’ve seen and social media has clearly put rocket boosters under some of the organisation, the inflaming of tensions, and also the misinformation that was spread as well.
‘So we do also expect to see action against those who were posting criminal material online as well, and also to make sure the social media companies take some responsibility for this.
‘Because they have terms and conditions they have to meet in terms of both misinformation and also criminal material that is available online.’
Pressed about what action social media firms should be taking, the Home Secretary said it was ‘not acceptable’ they had scaled down efforts to tackle misinformation following the conclusion of the general election campaign.
‘They did have arrangements in place around removing misinformation during the general election campaign,’ she said.
‘Some of that has stopped – that’s not acceptable, they have terms and conditions that they should be meeting.
‘Some of this is around criminal material that they should be removing.
‘But they also actually just have to have a sense of responsibility towards communities where we’ve seen the consequences in certain towns and cities.
‘So we will be pursuing this with the social media companies.’
Mr Cleverly said, when he was home secretary, he knew of a ‘very pernicious online culture’ had been ‘amplified’ from beyond Britain’s borders.
‘I was well aware of a very pernicious online culture perpertrated by the far right, amplified both within the UK and beyond our borders,’ he told the TV news channel.
‘This has all the hallmarks of something which has been stoked by that.’
