- Experts say that anti-blockade groups in the UK are becoming increasingly entangled with extreme right groups on social media.
- Anti-vaccine groups are using the same fringe social media platforms as many famous far-right extremists.
- A BBC reporter was chased in the street by anti-blockade demonstrators in a distressing scene, and two men were charged.
- View more stories on Business Insider SA’s homepage.
Experts warn that anti-blockade and anti-vaccination organizations are increasingly entangled with networks of far-right extremists who share threat information about journalists on marginal social media networks such as Telegram.
A kind The second man charged this week In the UK, a BBC reporter was chased on the street by demonstrators protesting the blockade measures.
The video of the incident was uploaded to YouTube by an anti-blocking organization called ResistanceGB, which has more than 28,000 fans and the title is “BBC’s top running dog chases out anti-blocking protests against BBC lies.”
This video clearly shows that Nick Watt was chased, harassed and tortured in front of the police. The police just left the mob to move on, which is really worrying.
pic.twitter.com/xDYpSiCCko — Liam Thorp?? (@LiamThorpECHO) June 15, 2021
Therefore, the BBC was forced to strengthen its security procedures after Fran Unsworth, director of news and current affairs at the National Broadcasting Corporation, stated that “journal abuse is a growing problem.” Observer report.
Many prominent figures on the British far right, including Nick Griffin and Jada Franson, subsequently expressed their support on social media for the pursuit of Watt’s protesters through Westminster.
Experts say that although the UK’s anti-vaccination and anti-blockade campaigns are not far-right in nature, many of them are increasingly using the same fringe social media platforms, such as Telegram, where famous far-right influencers are located. Such as Nick Griffin and Jada Franson have a large following. Many of these figures often talk about opposition to vaccines and blockades.
“As anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists increasingly share online space with violent far-right extremists, the possibility of radicalization is also increasing,” said a spokesperson for the technical anti-terrorist organization, which is a UN anti-terrorist organization. Organizations supported by terrorist organizations to combat the use of terrorism on the Internet. -Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate. “The more these groups share the same space, the more likely they are to be influenced by each other’s thoughts.”
After Paul Joseph Watson, a right-wing conspiracy theorist and British editor of Infowars, shared the link to Watt being hunted down, the comments that Insider saw in the response included: “Okay. Scum. I hope he is angry. “And “He can and should be lynched.” The previous observer Report Other comments shared below the video.
Nick Griffin, the former leader of the French National Party, mentioned the protesters in a speech tweet As a “hero” and added the tag “#onlythingthesef—ers understand”.
Experts say that anti-Semitism metaphors are also shared in anti-vax groups on social media.
“When extremists are banned from entering large platforms, they will not disappear from the Internet; instead, they gather on small alternative platforms that lack the ability or willingness, and these platforms have neither the ability nor the willingness to delete their content,” said Anti-Terrorism Technology. People say.
