False claims circulating on social media have led to the targeting of several mosques, Islamic buildings and hotels housing refugees in the UK. Amnesty International
Staff Reporter, Daily Dawn, Dawn TV Report
London: Following the deadly attack in Southport, UK, last year, the design and policies of the social media platform X provided a fertile environment for the promotion of inflammatory and racist narratives against Muslims and immigrants.
According to a report by the Turkish news agency Anadolu, Amnesty International has published its analytical report in this regard, the investigation of which revealed that the social networking site X played a central role in the spread of false narratives and harmful content in the riots against Muslim and immigrant communities in the UK.
The report, which conducted a technical analysis of X’s open source code and publicly available software, revealed that its recommendation system (also known as its content ranking algorithm) prioritizes content that is likely to provoke, provoke strong reactions, provoke debate and generate high engagement, without adequate safeguards to prevent harm.
“Our analysis shows that X’s algorithms and policy decisions exacerbated the risk of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant violence across the UK last year, which remains a serious threat to human rights today,” said Pat de Brun, Amnesty International’s head of big tech accountability.
Following the stabbing attack by Axel Rodakobana in Southport on 29 July 2024, right-wing extremist riots erupted in the United Kingdom, with false online reports claiming that the attacker was a British citizen and Muslim refugee born in Cardiff, Wales.
As a result of these false claims circulating on social media, several mosques, Islamic buildings and hotels providing accommodation to refugees were targeted across the country.
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