Free Republic

Foreign state actors may be amplifying online disinformation that has fuelled a week of riots on the streets of Britain, Downing Street has suggested. Russian state media were among those sharing false claims that the suspect accused of killing three young girls in Southport last Monday was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK on a small boat. Channel3Now, which purports to be a legitimate American news outlet but acts as an “aggregator” for fake claims, wrongly named the attacker as Ali Al-Shakati, believed to be a fictitious name. The subsequent unrest has prompted calls for greater efforts...

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer strongly condemned an attack Sunday on a hotel housing asylum seekers, describing it as “far-right thuggery" as more violence broke out in several towns and cities across the country in the wake of a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and many more wounded. In a statement from 10 Downing Street on Sunday afternoon, the prime minister vowed that the authorities will “do whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice." “I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly or those whipping up this action...

LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned social media companies that they must uphold laws that prohibit the incitement of violence online after misinformation around a fatal mass stabbing earlier in the week sparked violent scenes. A 17-year-old boy appeared in an English court on Thursday charged with the murder of three young girls in a knife attack at a summer dance class in Southport that has shocked the nation and sparked two nights of violent protests. The disturbances followed the rapid spread of false information on social media that the suspect in the stabbings was...