Anyone whipping up violence online will face “the full force of the law”, Sir Keir Starmer has said, as the Government warned action by social media firms to tackle inflammatory content “doesn’t go far enough”.
Downing Street also condemned Elon Musk for claiming that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, and suggested that online misinformation fuelling disorder on Britain’s streets may be being amplified by foreign state actors.
After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting on Monday morning, the Prime Minister stressed 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 working to tackle criminality online and to ensure people are prosecuted for online criminal activity, according to a read-out of the Cobra gathering.
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 said social media giants should be doing more to crack down on misleading material.
“The Government is working with social media platforms to ensure that they are removing content quickly, 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 having discussions with the firms on ramping up measures, the spokesman said.
“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 rapid response to misleading criminal content online and that that 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.”
No 10 also criticised X, formerly Twitter, owner Mr Musk for saying “civil war is inevitable” in response to a post on Sunday sharing footage of the violence.
“There’s no justification for comments like that,” Sir Keir’s spokesman said.
“We’re talking about a minority of thugs who don’t speak for Britain.”
Authorities are working to crack down on 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 get into more detail on which states may be behind it, but added that “it is clearly something that is being looked at”.