What the 2022 Leicester riots taught us about the spread of disinformation – and how to stop it
A lot of attention in the coming months will be focussed on the role of social media in spreading disinformation which, if not a cause of the riots, has certainly aggravated them. Disinformation tactics also constantly evolve, with bad actors using sophisticated methods to evade detection, such as using coded language, memes, or video content that is harder to analyse than text. I’ve been fascinated to discover that all three of my children have recently deleted some social media accounts – in part because of frustrations over adverts, but also because they realised for themselves that their use of such platforms was affecting their mental health. Since the unrest in Leicester in 2022, we’ve started to use the language of interculturalism to describe partnerships between businesses, charities and local authorities working to bring people together across differences. Those face-to-face encounters help foster empathy, strengthen our sense of community, and reveal to us the truth about our neighbours – and there’s no amount of disinformation that can counter that.
A New Year in misinformation: What garbage will spread on social media in 2022?
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