How fake tweets from India fueled riots between Hindus and Muslims in Leicester

According to rumours, a Muslim girl had been kidnapped, and a Hindu temple had sent masked men into the conflict. Add to that local rage over an India-Pakistan cricket match, and soon Hindu and Muslim men were fighting in the streets of downtown England.

Riots continue in Leicester, England. Hindu far right groups shouting ‘Jai Sri Ram’ and attacking Muslims on the streets. pic.twitter.com/97fTIBsBiX

— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) September 18, 2022

It was a social media tempest, primarily created on another continent, that erupted in real life in Leicester, where police made over 50 arrests and a community was shattered.

“It is a strong instance of how hashtag dynamics on Twitter may exploit questionable inflammatory claims to… increase tensions on the ground,” said a representative for the fact-checking site Logically, which examined the reliability of the messages.

“I’ve seen quite a bit of social media material that is very, very misleading today, and some of it just absolutely dishonest about what had been happening amongst various groups,” Leicester Mayor Peter Soulsby told BBC radio.

There was a peaceful gathering of mostly young Muslims in Belgrave road today, but the anger was palpable, and anxiety hung on the mouths of local residents, who looked out their front doors with concern after a night of chaos they hope will not return.

— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022

Leicestershire Police Commissioner Rob Nixon agreed, telling the BBC that disinformation on social media played a “major role” in last month’s upheaval.

To refute some of these allegations, authorities resorted to social media, claiming that they had thoroughly examined reports of three guys approaching a teenage girl in an attempted kidnapping and discovered no reality to the internet account.

“We strongly advise you to only publish material on social media that you know is accurate,” they stated.

Fact-checkers discovered no validity in accusations that masked thugs were bused into Leicester.

“The events in Leicester did not arise out of nowhere,” said Keval Bharadia of the South Asia Solidarity Group, a community non-profit in the United Kingdom.

“For years, friends and relatives have been distributing phoney news and disinformation. It’s an endless flood of misinformation from troll armies.