X and others contacted by watchdog over Belfast ‘civil unrest incited online’

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said she had explicitly asked Ofcom to discuss with X and other platforms how they will comply with the Online Safety Act.

It came as Sir Keir Starmer vowed to “crack down on anyone who is fuelling this division” amid criticism of Elon Musk and social media’s role in the night of violence in the city.

The billionaire X owner, who used his online account to promote calls for people to take to the streets in response to Monday’s knife attack, hit back at accusations he was inflaming tensions and blamed immigration policy.

Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, was remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with attempted murder over the stabbing attack in which victim Stephen Ogilvie lost his left eye.

The reaction to the incident saw protesters set homes, a bus and cars on fire, with people targeted based on their race.

Communications regulator Ofcom said some of the disorder “appears to have been incited online”, adding: “This has included racially motivated incidents of violence, arson attacks on homes and vehicles, and attacks against police.”

The watchdog said it has contacted all major platforms “where we believe there are specific risks around the presence of illegal content relating to the civil unrest”.

Online service providers have duties under the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023 to “assess and mitigate the risks of illegal activity occurring on their sites and apps” – content which can include stirring up hatred or provoking violence.

Ms Kendall said people who “use social media to incite violence and disorder are breaking the law”, and confirmed the Government will next week present to Parliament an update to the Online Safety Act requiring services to “take quicker action to remove illegal content circulating during times of crisis”.

Mr Musk shared lists on X of locations where protests could take place – also posted by activist Tommy Robinson – and retweeted Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe’s post saying “Millions must go” with a screengrab of footage of the knife attack.

The American billionaire also supported a post by GB News presenter Matt Goodwin saying it was not social media or him inflaming tensions in the UK, but “the very deliberate policy of mass uncontrolled immigration and open borders”.

Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, repeatedly posted on X about the unfolding disorder, saying “foreign businesses are being destroyed in Belfast” and that homes suspected of housing asylum seekers “are getting trashed by angry locals”.

Concerns have also been raised about messages encouraging disorder being forwarded many times on WhatsApp.

One message said to have circulated urged men of the age of 18 and over to “wear dark clothing and be prepared to fight or be arrested”.

Before Tuesday’s violence, Ofcom had already said it was strengthening its online safety codes of practice on this front – requiring tech firms to act “promptly and effectively during a crisis, to manage a significant increase in illegal content appearing and address the risk of their platform being used to commit or facilitate criminal offences”.

The regulator added that it will expect platforms to “deploy a temporary response team as soon as possible when a crisis occurs” and carry out analysis of its response afterwards, including what decisions were taken and how effective their plan was.

Ofcom added that large platforms – which would cover the biggest social media providers in the world such as Meta and X – should put in place a dedicated communication channel “through which crisis-related information may be shared by law enforcement agencies, to support faster and more co-ordinated public safety efforts”.

Sir Keir on Wednesday said “there is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere”.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, the PM said: “We will crack down on anyone who is fuelling this division.”

Asked what he would do, No 10 referred back to actions Sir Keir had taken over the last year on social media and said he “won’t hesitate to do that again”.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman pointed to fines issued by Ofcom under the Online Safety Act and nearly 100 investigations launched under it, as well as action taken against chatbot Grok earlier this year.

“And we’ve always said that that Act is the start, not the end of the conversation,” he said, referring to the legislation designed to protect people online.

The update to the codes must be laid before Parliament by the Government before coming into effect.

It is expected the measures could be in place from autumn.