‘Some good can come out of this’: How Britain, for the most part, rejected the far right

Carole Cadwalladr is, in many ways, a prophet when it comes to discussing the impact that social media has had on society.

Discussions over the nexus of nefarious outsider forces interfering in Western politics aside, one of the broader, and perhaps more important and consequential aspects of her body of work is the focus on social media and the role it plays in shaping our consciousness and behaviour.

Indeed, the events in Southport, along with the public's reaction to events as news evolved on social media, significantly influenced the outcome we witnessed over the past week. Fear was stoked in obscure Telegram, Gab, and Truth Social chat groups, as well as across broader social media, fuelling speculation about the next potential target of far-right violence.

Immediately following the sad events in Southport, social media was a truly frightening place to be; in some ways it has always been the case - the anxiety, sadness, fear, and speculation of what happened escalated extremely quickly into misplaced rage, with prompts and threats of terror and extreme violence. Reports within those first moments after the events became known started with "something has happened in Southport" to becoming, very quickly, "a Muslim has gone on a rampage in Southend."

The more outrageous the comment, and often the more inflammatory, the more the algorithm pushed it to the top of feeds, with peoples views clustered together and inescapable, determined often by whether or not you possessed a ‘Blue Tick’ or paid to have your comment ‘boosted.’

The cautious few said nothing. 

Details were scant, and what had actually transpired was waiting to be confirmed. Until reports were, it was probably wise to remain silent lest those claims being made on social media would be used against individuals at a later date and eventually translate into an arrest, a charge and a prison sentence under certain sections of the Online Safety Act 2023 (more on this in a bit).

Not providing an update was a conscious, responsible, and rational decision to avoid playing a role, however minimal, in spreading what was, at the time, essentially a potentially dangerous virus.

The virus in this case, as Cadwalladr and other journalists have warned us about, was misinformation.