Southport stabbings misinformation was stoked abroad, research says

by · Mail Online

The vast majority of social media misinformation about the Southport stabbings which helped spark this summer's UK riots was stoked abroad, new research says.

The most prominent extremist conspiracy posts were from people outside Britain - amounting to as much as 70 per cent of such online content, according to experts.

There were widespread clashes between rioters, counter-protesters and police which spread throughout the country in July and August this year.

They were triggered by misinformation about the suspect charged with the Southport stabbings where three girls died, with the attack being widely and wrongly blamed online on a fictitious Islamist migrant.

Accused Axel Rudakubana, born in Cardiff to parents from Rwanda, has been charged with three counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed weapon.

Trouble flared in Southport (pictured) in the days after three young girls were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town
Far-right activists held so-called 'Enough Is Enough' demonstrations in the days following the Southport stabbings, including here in Sunderland
Online activist Silvano Trotta (pictured), based in Strasbourg in France, is among those said to have spread social media misinformation about the Southport stabbings
A post on X, formerly Twitter, gave the name of a fictitious asylum seeker who was wrongly said to be the suspected Southport attacker

Following the tragedy, far-right activists began targeting mosques and accommodation for asylum seekers - including attacks on hotels housing migrants in Rotherham and Tamworth, Staffordshire.

Violence broke out in cities across England and also in Northern Ireland - and has been followed by a hundreds of charges including for children as young as 12.

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Other towns and cities where disturbances erupted included Manchester, Bolton, Rotherham, Nottingham, Sunderland, Hull and Bristol.

Now Sky News has reported that Silvano Trotta, based in the French city of Strasbourg, was behind posts spreading misinformation about the Southport stabbings which happened at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

He is said to have shared false information on the messaging app Telegram as well as X, formerly Twitter, claiming that the Southport attacker was an immigrant who had arrived on a small boat and had the name inaccurate name Ali Al Shakati. 

He was quoted by Sky News as responding: 'Who doesn’t make mistakes? But whatever happened, he is still a migrant, even if he was born in Wales.' 

The broadcaster worked with open-source intelligence firm Prose to analyse how misleading information about the Southport attacks were promoted on social media app Telegram.

Prose monitors more than 10,000 extremist and conspiracist groups on online accounts and scrutinised 11,051 messages from 1,496 separate chats and channels for a fortnight following the Southport stabbings.

Their findings suggest only six of the 20 most influential accounts, for reach as well as views and interactions, were from Britain with the others based overseas including the US, Russia, Germany and France.

In the organisation's report published online today, Prose said: 'These international actors repurposed the local incident to insert broader far-right narratives, such as anti-immigrant sentiment and conspiracy theories like the "Great Replacement".' 

The protests included this rally in Whitehall, central London, on July 31
A car was toppled over and set alight during the disorder in Sunderland on August 2
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer gave a news conference in response to the UK-wide disturbances, at 10 Downing Street on August 1

Prose's managing director Al Baker said: 'While all the action is happening on the ground and people in Britain are dealing with the consequences of this misinformation, the people stoking the violence, the people flooding Telegram and other platforms of misinformation, are largely based outside the UK.

'These are communities which are expressly specifically and in a very dedicated and organised fashion devoted to exploiting racial divisions internationally.

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'Any incident which could plausibly involve an immigrant, a Muslim, someone who isn't white, regardless of whether in fact they did it or not, these communities are going to kick into action and try and stoke up division and racial hatred.'

Analysts suggested an international network of far-right online influencers was helping to whip up tensions and disorder, with MI5 head Ken McCallum last week telling of a 'crowd-sourced model' rather than specific organisations.

A spokesperson for Telegram said: 'Telegram is not a place to spread violent content. Moderators removed UK groups and channels calling for violence when they were discovered in August.

'To dissuade criminal misuse of Telegram, IP addresses and phone numbers of criminals who violate our rules can be disclosed to the authorities in response to valid legal requests.

'We are ready to cooperate with the UK government through the appropriate channels.'

MailOnline has contacted Silvano Trotta for comment.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper last month announced there would be a review of the 'weak' system used by police to co-ordinate their response to the summer's riots.

Al Baker, managing director of open-source intelligence analysts Prose, told Sky News that those using the internet to stoke the recent riots were largely based outside the UK
Police were called out in force in response to the Sunderland riots in early August
Hartlepool was another of the towns which saw violent riots break out this summer - police officers are seen here outside a damaged butcher's shop on August 1
Riot police are pictured facing off against protesters in Southport after disorder broke out on July 30, the day after the three fatal stabbings in the town
Arrests were made as disorder erupted at an anti-immigration demonstration in Manchester

She praised the 'robust and swift' action taken by the criminal justice system, with more than 1,280 arrests, 800 charges and 570 people brought before the courts. 

New action she promised included an examination of the systems used by the National Police Coordination Centre, which was set up in the wake of the 2011 riots to allow forces across the UK to share resources.

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Ms Cooper told the Commons: 'I want to particularly thank the chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council and public order lead for the mobilisation work that they did.

'But the reality is co-ordination infrastructure and systems that they had to work with were too weak.'

Anti-immigrant sentiment had swirled on online sites, with one group chat on Telegram listing potential targets on August 7.

Towns and cities across England - from Aldershot to Wigan - were named as places for demonstrations, with organisers saying, 'They won't stop coming until you tell them'.

One message - posted to the group's 15,000 members - said: 'The n*****s will try to abuse the unrest to steal. It's in their blood to do so.'

And a further post told would-be rioters to wear masks, hoodies and leave their phones at home, underneath a photo of a young man in a balaclava and the tagline: 'White n radical.'

Shops across the UK closed early, with many boarded up, amid fears of fresh clashes breaking out - while medical appointments cancelled due to staff being too wary to go to work. 

A police officer is seen trying to extinguish flames after a mob set a wheelie bin alight at the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham which was housing asylum seekers
Police dealing with trouble on St Lukes Road, Southport, on July 30 as hundreds of people gathered on the street
Pictures taken after the disorder in Rotherham showed some of the damage done

And yet, that evening, thousands of anti-racist protesters outnumbered far-right antagonists on the streets of Britain in a show of counter-protest solidarity.

Prose Intelligence's MD Mr Baker today cautioned: 'Large swathes of the online far-right see Southport as a missed opportunity.

'There is a huge amount of recrimination, people blaming one another for how quickly the riots fizzled out.

'And I think we should be very concerned that they're not going to make the same mistake twice.'