ANYONE inciting violence online will face “the full force of the law,” stated Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as the Government warned that social media companies’ efforts to address inflammatory content “don’t go far enough.”
Downing Street also suggested that online misinformation, which is contributing to disorder on Britain’s streets, could be being amplified by foreign state actors.
After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting on Monday morning, the Prime Minister emphasised that “the criminal law applies online as well as offline.”
The police, Home Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the National Crime Agency are all working to combat online criminality and ensure people are prosecuted for such activities, according to a read-out from the Cobra meeting.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman told reporters: “Anyone who stokes this violence, whether on the internet or in person, can be prosecuted and face prison.”
The official also stated that social media giants should be doing more to tackle misleading material. “The Government is working with social media platforms to ensure they are removing content quickly, and that their processes are in place. But there is more that they can and should be doing, as I think the Prime Minister has said, to counter misleading and inflammatory material hosted on their platforms.”
“They have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their users and online spaces to ensure that criminal activity is not being posted on their platforms. They shouldn’t be waiting for the Online Safety Act for that. They already have responsibilities in place under the law, and they have responsibilities that we will hold them to account for.”
Technology Secretary Peter Kyle is holding discussions with the firms on increasing these measures, the spokesman added. “We have seen some action over the last few days by social media companies to ensure that their automated processes are working, that there is a rapid response to misleading criminal content online and that it is being suppressed or removed. But as I said, this doesn’t go far enough, and this is subject to the conversations that the DSIT Secretary continues to have.”
Authorities are also working to tackle misinformation and bot activity, which may be being amplified by hostile state actors, No 10 said.
“Clearly, we have seen bot activity online, much of which may well be amplified with the involvement of state actors amplifying some of the disinformation and misinformation that we’ve seen. And that is something that the NCA and DSIT are looking at in relation to what we’ve seen online. I obviously can’t get into more detail than that, but it is clearly something that is being looked at.”
The official declined to provide further details on which states might be behind this, but added that “it is clearly something that is being looked at.”
