British laws not fit for social media age, says report on 2024 UK riots

LONDON – British laws restricting what police can say about criminal cases are “not fit for the social media age”, a government committee said in a report released on April 14 in Britain that highlighted how unchecked misinformation stoked riots last summer.

Violent disorder, fuelled by the far right, affected several towns and cities for days after a teenager killed three girls on July 29, 2024, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England. In the hours after the stabbings, false claims that the attacker was a Muslim immigrant in the country illegally spread rapidly online.

In a report looking into the riots, a parliamentary committee said a lack of information from the authorities after the attack “created a vacuum where misinformation was able to grow”. The report blamed decades-old British laws, aimed at preventing jury bias, that stopped police from correcting false claims.

By the time the police announced that the suspect was British-born, those false claims had reached millions.

The Home Affairs Committee, which brings together lawmakers from across the political spectrum, published its report after questioning police chiefs, government officials and emergency workers during four months of hearings.

Axel Rudakubana, who was sentenced to life in prison for the attack, was born and raised in Britain by a Christian family from Rwanda. A judge later found there was no evidence he was driven by a single political or religious ideology, but was obsessed with violence.

Ms Karen Bradley, the Conservative Party lawmaker who leads the Home Affairs Committee, said “bad-faith actors” exploited the attack. But she added that a lack of accurate information allowed lies to proliferate.

The first riot broke out in Southport several hours after the attack. The disorder continued in multiple towns and cities, and many protests targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum-seekers. Two buildings were set on fire while people were inside. More than 300 police officers were injured during the riots.

It added that Merseyside Police “were put in a very difficult position” because officers were legally barred from disclosing the suspect’s identity and received “inconsistent advice” from prosecutors about whether they could confirm he was not Muslim.

The report concluded that the lack of information after the stabbing “created a vacuum where misinformation was able to grow, further undermining public confidence”, and that the law on contempt was not “fit for the social media age”. NYTIMES