One year on from the United Kingdom Southport riots – fuelled by social media – this briefing includes policy recommendations for information critical incidents in both election and non-election contexts. It outlines key findings and sets out recommendations for government, the communications regulator Ofcom and social media platforms, aimed at strengthening the performance of content moderation systems during information emergencies.

Community Notes’, which uses a community-based approach to provide context or correction to false information online, was one of the systems of moderation that was in use on social media platforms such as X and YouTube during the riots. Research concluded that Community Notes, as deployed on X, cannot be relied on as an effective measure against such instances of information crises in isolation.

Key findings

• The Southport riots were fuelled by social media: the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and Ofcom both described a clear connection between online activity and the violent disorder.
• Community Notes were too slow to prevent false and harmful information going viral.
• Hate speech remained on X despite the use of both Community Notes and professional moderation teams.