UK: X created a ‘staggering amplification of hate’ during the 2024 riots

15 comments

1. False claims on X (formerly Twitter) spread rapidly after tragic triple murder in Southport, contributing to violent racist riots across the UK.

   Amnesty International’s analysis links X’s design and policy choices to the amplification of content which incited violence against Muslims and migrants.

   ‘One year on, even with the arrival of the Online Safety Act, it appears nothing has changed’ – Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK Chief Executive at Amnesty International UK

   A year after racist riots erupted across England and Northern Ireland following the murder of Bebe King (aged 6), Elsie Dot Stancombe (aged 7) and Alice da Silva Aguiar (aged 9) in Southport, Amnesty International has found that social media platform X played a central role in the spread of false narratives and content which incited violence against Muslim and migrant communities.

   Our analysis of X’s open-source code reveals that the platform’s content ranking algorithms prioritise the type of content that can spread misinformation and hate, with deeply inadequate safeguards to prevent human rights abuses.

   “Our research demonstrates that these design choices significantly exacerbated human rights risks for racialised communities in the wake of the Southport riots– and continues to present a serious human rights risk today,” said Pat de Brún, Amnesty International’s Head of Big Tech Accountability.

2. I mean, welcome to social media?

   Their whole business model is engagement. The more radical, the more engagement, the more money. Hence why chat rooms about daffodils don’t get many clicks.

3. They are including Hope not Hate’s founder Nick Lowles tweeting fake information too right?

   ….right?

4. I thought this was common knowledge that since it was bought out the site has become a hot spot for hatred

5. >’One year on, even with the arrival of the Online Safety Act, it appears nothing has changed’

   Did we think this would fix anything? It’s the epitome of “we have to be seen to do something, this is something”

6. You know the world is full of hate right? We’re surrounded by death, killing, struggle. Are the people who believe Love makes the world go around all doped up on something? Get real people

7. Here I thought it was the mass murder of little girls

8. I think there’s a reasonable argument for social media accounts to require identify confirmation of their use. People may still use aliases after their real identity been confirmed but i do think misuse the anonymity.

9. They really need to start cracking down on this!! I say lock them up and throw away the key! No place for hate in 2025!!! Diversity is OUR strength!

10. When are we going to get serious about tackling online hate?

    Our ancestors that lived through two World Wars understood the dangerous of the rise of hate and worked very hard to make sure it never happened again. We lived through an unprecendented period of peace lasting 80 years.

    Now we’ve forgotten these lessons and everything is coming undone.

11. I guess the only solution is even stricter online regulation. 🙄 How convenient.

12. Really? I’m surprised, I had absolutely no idea!!

    Said no one, ever.

    🙄

13. I can’t stand Amnesty anymore. They are so ideologically charged. Yes, X is very bad at spreading misinformation. But that’s not what this report, or any part of their actions, are about.

14. I agree that it probably did, it’s fairly common sense to assume that was the case. However, I simply cannot take anything that Amnesty International says anymore seriously and without a gigantic mound of salt.

15. Did it create it, or did it just reflect a society we do not wish to admit is there; furthering the cycle.

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