"Particular attention was given to Ofcom's previous claim that the OSA could potentially have prevented situations similar to the Southport riots which broke out in 2024, had it been in force at the time. The riots broke out in the aftermath of the Southport knife attack, where three girls aged from six to nine were stabbed to death while attending a summer holiday dance class. The idea is that such regulations might have stopped the misinformation over the attacker's background, identity, and motive that stoked the violence and led to rioters gathering to attack local businesses and mosques."
"The attacker was a local British teen, born in Cardiff, with a Christian background and Rwandan parents who'd moved to the UK before he was born. Because the killer was underage at the time, police did not release information about him, and false info was spread by far-right leaning individuals who blamed immigrants and Muslims, leading to mobs attacking both people and businesses they believed were linked to the groups across the country. They dismantled brick walls of local homeowners to produce projectiles, set fire to cars at random, looted shops and smashed up windows, injured 50 police officers and hurt three police dogs after throwing bricks at them."
"Bernard Keenan, lecturer in law at University College London, said Ofcom's claims raise "dangerous expections" about the OSA's capability. He told the committee: "We're playing with questions of counterfactuals and causality, and I don't think anybody can really determine what difference""
Industry experts expressed concern and sympathy for Ofcom while questioning the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act. The UK's Communications and Digital Committee heard academic and industry leaders critique aspects of OSA enforcement and Ofcom's recent statements. Ofcom suggested the OSA might have prevented misinformation-fueled unrest similar to the Southport riots in 2024. The Southport riots followed a knife attack in which three girls aged six to nine were killed. False information about the attacker's background and motive spread online and fueled mobs to attack businesses and mosques, causing widespread damage and injuries. Bernard Keenan said claims about what the OSA could have prevented raise dangerous counterfactual and causality questions.
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