John Swinney accuses social media giants of not tackling 'dangerous misinformation' and spread of hatred

John Swinney has accused social media companies of failing in their duty to tackle “profoundly dangerous” misinformation amid concern disorder could spread to Scotland.

The First Minister said on Wednesday that Police Scotland were adequately equipped to handle any escalation north of the border.

Many riots have taken place across the UK over the past week after the fatal stabbings of three children in Southport caused unrest, while thousands of anti-racism protesters lined the streets in England last night.

There have been no such events in Scotland so far, but Mr Swinney has said officers are assessing intelligence constantly.

But the First Minister demanded social media companies make a “lot of improvement” in cracking down on “false information” after regulatory body Ofcom reminded Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, of their duties to crack down on disinformation.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Swinney said: “I think the social media companies have got a lot of improvement to undertake in their conduct.

“I was very struck by the communication of Ofcom yesterday, reminding social media companies of their obligation to remove material that incites hatred or violence.

“I don’t think that’s been the case.”

Riot police stand off rioters at the height of the disorder in nearby Sunderland. Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Mr Swinney said misinformation had wrongly been spread in relation to a stabbing in Stirling, which he said had been done to “stir up hatred” against the Muslim community.

He told the radio programme: : “The disinformation can be profoundly dangerous. We had an example at the weekend in Scotland where there was information – false information – circulating suggesting a stabbing that had taken place in Stirling had been undertaken by someone from the Muslim community.

“It was information circulated to try to stir up hatred. I was very grateful to Police Scotland for immediately intervening on that material, making it clear that this incident, which is a very serious incident and I feel very much for the victim that was involved, had nothing to do with a person from the Muslim community.

“Police Scotland, in my view, did absolutely the right thing to stamp on that misinformation and we will continue to do that where it’s required.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also said social media companies were not yet fulfilling their duty to prevent the spread of hatred.

It comes after he joined other Holyrood party leaders at Bute House to be briefed on the situation by Mr Swinney on Wednesday.

Mr Sarwar said: “I think many of our social media platforms aren’t yet taking the scale of action they could take to stop the scale of misinformation on their platforms.

“That needs to happen.”

He also said the UK Government was taking the “right steps” in tackling disorder in England, adding: “I think the tone is very welcome because I think it’s really important to stress that we are not going to tolerate far-right thugs, racists, trying to incite violence or take part in violence in our streets or to intimidate our communities or to target individual places of worship.”

The Crown Office is revisiting plans it drew up to tackle any potential violence at the CO26 climate summit in Glasgow in case violence north of the border does escalate.

Mr Swinney said: “[There are] comprehensive policing plans in place, and the chief constable and her senior officers are focused on that task.

“The Crown Office has established plans for swift justice that were developed for COP26.

“There were concerns there would have been a necessity to use these resources and techniques had they been required, and those plans are being revisited in light of events in the rest of the UK.”