Ofcom hiring staff in wake of social media-fuelled riots

Safety officers will be tasked with tackling misinformation

- MARTYN LANDI

Media regulator Ofcom is ramping up its hiring of online safety staff as debate continues over the ability of the UK to properly tackle the spread of misinformation online. The riots in parts of the UK earlier this month were fuelled by the spread of misinformation in the wake of the stabbings in Southport.

The violence was stoked by a number of false claims spreading online, including that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat last year, while Twitter/X owner Elon Musk made references to “two-tier policing” in Britain, reposted a false claim about the government setting up detainment camps in the Falkland Islands, and interacted with a post from rightwing activist Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen YaxleyLennon – about the violence.