Go Inside the UK Riot’s Harmful Narratives and Disinformation Campaigns

On 29 July, news broke that a mass stabbing had occurred in Southport, UK, at a children’s event at a local dance studio. Three children were killed, and ten other people were injured in the attack. In the days that followed the attack, rumors swirled online at high volume around the identity of the perpetrator, as they could not be named by the media initially due to their status as 17-year-old minors. Speculation and harmful narratives quickly turned to accusations that the attacker was an illegal migrant who had very recently arrived in the UK via a small boat, that the attacker was Muslim, and that the stabbing was an act of terror. Some even wrongly identified the name of the perpetrator. 

As tensions rose, leading to rioting by anti-mass immigration protesters, authorities began releasing information to combat misinformation and disinformation fueling the unrest. Authorities released a statement that the attacker was born in Cardiff. A judge ruled that the media could circulate information on the perpetrator, including his name. Ultimately, however, although officials refuted the primary claims surrounding initial animosity – confirming that the perpetrator was born in Cardiff and had not recently arrived via boat, that the family was Christian and not Muslim, and that the attack was not terrorism-related – the tense atmosphere had already reached a boiling point. That weekend, a mass wave of anti-immigration riots took place across the UK—including in Southport, London, Liverpool, Bristol, Tamworth, Middlesbrough, Belfast, and Rotherham, among other cities. In several cases, agitators targeted mosques and hotels housing migrants and asylum seekers. 

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A Blackbird.AI investigation of online activity in the initial time determined that misinformation and disinformation began circulating organically in the wake of the Southport knife attack, with online activity centered around anxieties related to an uptick in knife-enabled crime in the UK and anti-immigrant sentiment. Hyper-agenda-driven actors with large followings then amplified misinformation and disinformation—scaling up divisive claims and spreading them across their audiences. A shift occurred in the second period the weekend after the attack, in which accounts changed focus from the Southport attacker to broader concerns around the future of the UK, demographic shifts, and mass immigration. In Blackbird.AI’s analysis regarding claims of Russian influence, evidence of potential Russia-affiliated campaigning was discovered, although these primarily occurred in the latter period. These efforts were negligible in terms of effort and impact—post volume and engagement were significantly lower from the Russian State Supporter cohort and Russian state-affiliated accounts. Instead, foreign influence efforts seemed more opportunistic than driving activity—attempting to tap into organically originating misinformation and disinformation and existing heightened tensions.

Blackbird.AI’s analysis of online conversations related to the Southport knife attack and UK riots from 29 July to 5 August shows two distinct periods. The first period, from 29 July to 1 August, focuses on the days after the Southport attack. The second period, from 2 to 5 August, focuses on the weekend when riots intensified and spread across the UK. 

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In the first period, directly after the stabbing in Southport and in the days after that, misinformation and disinformation began circulating immediately after news broke, even before influential persons became involved in the conversation. Among average accounts—those with small followings and earning low to moderate engagement—posting on the first day after the attack, a tone of fear around knife-related crime in the UK was prevalent, as well as concerns that the attack might have been terror-related and perpetrated by a foreigner. More specifically, concerns that the attack had Islamist motivations were present very early in the timeline. 

Blackbird.AIs’ RAV3N Narrative Intelligence Research Team uncovered five prominent narratives, ranked from highest to lowest post volume:

• The suspect is a Muslim migrant/(illegal) immigrant/foreigner/”invader”/asylum seeker;
• The suspect is an Islamist/terrorist, and the attack was an act of terrorism;
• The attacker was a migrant who had recently arrived in the UK on a boat/dinghy named [redacted] and was on an MI6 watchlist;
• The Southport attack was a racially motivated Black-on-white crime; British citizens must protect their white children;
• Authorities obscured concerns around the attacker’s race, ethnicity, and potential status as a Muslim by simply stating he was “born in Cardiff.”

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After news broke of the attack, misinformation and disinformation quickly began circulating among average users online. Narratives exploded in the information environment after major influencers and online personalities with large followings began circulating these false claims. Across both the first and second periods, the proliferation of harmful narratives was exacerbated by the incitement of hyper-agenda-driven and conspiracist influencers starting on the first day after the attack, as well as large-following, anonymous, anti-immigration-focused accounts.

While officials worked to debunk the claims—releasing the name of the perpetrator after a judge’s ruling, clarifying the perpetrator’s birthplace and religious background, and announcing that they did not consider the attack to be terror-related—an intensely negative sentiment that had built up around the early claims continued through the reporting period, culminating in riots at the end of the first period and throughout the second.

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From Friday, 2 August, the tone and intensity of rhetoric shifted. Narratives no longer focused on the Southport attacker but rather on broader anxieties and anger regarding the future of the UK—including assertions around a perceived demographic power shift in that the UK is “becoming a Muslim nation,” upholds a two-tier policing system that favors migrants, and general anti-mass immigration backlash. Online circulators of these narratives employed sloganeering, including “Stop the Boats,” “Enough is Enough,” and “Two-Tier Kier/Britain.” 

Blackbird.AIs’ RAV3N Narrative Intelligence Research Team uncovered eleven prominent anti-immigration narratives, many of which correspond to geo-specific locations. 

Narratives ranked from highest to lowest post volume:

• Muslim immigrants attacked British patriots in Stoke and were armed with axes and hammers;
• Muslims were chasing and enacting violence on people in Middlesbrough;
• UK officials and authorities have instituted a two-tier policing system that favors migrants and more aggressively punishes “real” British people – they protect the Muslim community but not others;
• Irish men gathered in Cork to pray in the streets; Catholics and Protestants put aside historical differences to protest mass immigration in Belfast;
• Police in Sunderland and Nottingham went door-to-door raiding homes and arresting people for participating in anti-mass immigration protests;
• British patriots destroyed “an Islamic stand” where they were passing out the Qur’an in Liverpool;
• A Muslim crowd screamed Allahu Akbar at police in London;
• Britain is turning into or should not become a “Muslim nation;”
• Migrants at a hotel in Rotherham had guns;
• The Aldershot community is saying “enough is enough” to mass immigration;
• British patriots besieged a Holiday Inn housing illegal migrants in Tamworth.

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Similar conversation drivers inflamed tensions in the second period—namely, prominent and well-known hyper-agenda-driven actors and conspiracist influencers, both domestic and otherwise; and anti-immigration-focused accounts of anonymous authorship with large followings.

Across both reporting periods, anomalous activity was low to moderate for all narratives. The bot-like activity was moderate-to-high in three narratives from the first period and two in the second; much of this activity was related to news coverage. The low flagging of these signals indicates that, for the most part, these narratives emerged and circulated organically. In other words – these were narratives with genuine buy-in from real people. 

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Blackbird.AI additionally investigated claims regarding Russian disinformation campaigns related to the riots. While Russian state-affiliated accounts – primarily state media – and pro-Russian accounts did engage in narrative amplification, they were absent in significant volume. They achieved negligible engagement across narratives from the earliest period with one exception. Instead, pro-Russian and Russian state-affiliated accounts were more active in the second period, suggesting an opportunistic co-optation of existing misinformation and disinformation of organic origin already spreading like wildfire. However, these users did not drive significant post volume and engagement and were not the most prominent cohort in any of the narratives. Instead, what indeed appeared to drive dangerous misinformation and disinformation fueling the riots were several major hyper-agenda-driven actors and conspiratorial influencers and internet personalities—locally based as well as international—who were able to tap into existing anxieties and social tensions.

The Way Forward – Five Key Takeaways For Leaders:

• Rapid Misinformation Spread: In the immediate aftermath of the Southport knife attack, misinformation and disinformation quickly proliferated online, with early false narratives suggesting the attacker was an illegal migrant or a Muslim terrorist.
• Influencer Amplification: Hyper-agenda-driven influencers and online personalities with large followings significantly amplified these false claims, turning them into widespread and divisive narratives.
• Escalation to Riots: Despite official efforts to debunk these narratives, the built-up tensions led to widespread anti-immigration riots across the UK, targeting mosques and migrant housing.
• Opportunistic Foreign Influence: While Russian-affiliated accounts attempted to co-opt the situation, their efforts were minimal and opportunistic, with the most significant influence coming from domestic actors.
• Narrative Shift: Over time, the focus of the misinformation shifted from the specifics of the Southport attack to broader concerns about the UK’s future, including fears of demographic change and mass immigration, further fueling unrest.

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