Disinformation to disorder: How Tommy Robinson inflamed England race riots

By Michael Baggs (with Jon Sopel & Lewis Goodall)

In brief...

• Tommy Robinson, tweeting from Cyprus, has been accused of inciting racist violence across England, with crowds chanting his name during riots in several cities.
• His Twitter account was reinstated after Elon Musk's takeover of the social media company.
• The online incitement led to real-world violence and chaos, The News Agents say.

The News Agents discuss the role social media played in racist riots across England, which saw hotels housing asylum seekers set on fire.

Whilst he's been tweeting from a sun-lounger in Cyprus, Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (better known as Tommy Robinson) has been named as one of the people responsible for inciting racist violence across England on the weekend.

Topping up his tan while hotels housing asylum seekers were torched, crowds chanted his name at violent events in Middlesbrough, Tamworth, Rotherham and more.

Robinson spent his Sunday tweeting about how British people "want their country back", shared calls for Keir Starmer to be arrested, referred to a rapist as 'A Mohammed' and blamed the UK media of putting his family at risk by sharing details of his trip to Cyprus – all while parts of Britain burned.

Lewis Goodall Reports From Anti-Immigration Protests in Rotherham UK

The News Agents describe his words, and social media presence, as pure "bigotry", and say his influence on others should not be underestimated.

"This is a guy with an enormous social media following and a guy that you might just say, 'that's just him', but this stuff cascades through the ideological spectrum, and across the population," says Lewis Goodall.

"Many of these people are on these riots, and are actively identifying with him, actively chanting his name, despite the fact that apparently he's on holiday, apparently talking to his supporters from there.

"But there is no doubt whatsoever, he is a completely central figure to this movement, and it is something that the government is going to have to grapple with."

Robinson has been propped up by powerful right-wing figures, having previously been praised by Steve Bannon (Trump's former Chief Strategist while in the White House) on a panel at extremist US conference CPAC, which was also attended by Liz Truss.

"There is a support from people with a lot of wealth, and a lot of influence, who are seeing Tommy Robinson as one of the spear-carriers in the fight against the global elite or whatever it happens to be," adds Jon Sopel.

He has also found support in Elon Musk, who has been criticised for amplifying Robinson's activities on X, the platform he owns.

Robinson was previously banned from the platform before the Tesla billionaire bought the social network, restoring many accounts removed for engaging in extremist content and activity online.

Musk insists he believes in 'free speech' and that everyone should be able to post what they like on his platform. Responding to a tweet about UK riots, he wrote "civil war is inevitable", a claim which was condemned by Keir Starmer and the Labour government.

The Twitter owner has also engaged in spreading misinformation about Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, joining JK Rowling and other prominent voices on social media to claim she is a man, due to a reported condition of elevated testosterone levels.

"Instead of doing what most people would do when they read them, which is to say: 'Gosh, this sounds really complicated', and what normal political figures would have done, which is wait for the facts to come out, and then give us sort of reasoned response in the aftermath'" says Lewis.

"Instead, they will jump on both of them, declare that this is some massive problem, and this is an example of the degradation of civilisation itself and there needs to be action.

This, he adds, is the part that filters through to "ordinary" people who are online.

"Before you know where you are, you have a massive furore about both, which in both cases can be over very, very little," Lewis says.

Jon addresses the link between online incitement and the shocking scenes witnessed across the UK on the weekend more directly, scenes which have led to some countries, such as Nigeria and Malaysia, to issue warnings to their population about visiting Britain.

"The real world is not fighting out battles on social media, the real world are the people going into Rotherham or Sunderland afterwards and clearing up the mess, and are upstanding, decent citizens," Jon says.

"The problem is, it may not be the real world, but it has real world consequences, and what we are seeing playing out is built on lies, built on misinformation.

"We are seeing cities across Britain, where there are flames rising and smoke rising because of the activities of a relatively small number of protesters."

Listen to the discussion in full on The News Agents.

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