The narrow medieval streets and canals of Strasbourg in France, on the German border, seem a world away from the seaside town of Southport in the UK. Yet, on 29 July, the stabbing of three young girls in Southport sent ripples across the internet, igniting fear, anger, and hatred that stretched far beyond Britain’s borders. The event was soon picked up by far-right figures across Europe and beyond, who used the tragedy to sow division and fuel unrest.
One such figure is Silvano Trotta, a telecoms entrepreneur based in Strasbourg. Trotta runs a successful business, but he’s better known for his online presence as a purveyor of misinformation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he built a following by posting anti-vaccine content on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter (now rebranded as X), eventually being banned before being reinstated on X following Elon Musk’s takeover. Trotta’s attention has since shifted to immigration, a topic that continues to fuel far-right discourse.
From his office in Strasbourg, filled with model cars and family photographs, Trotta saw an opportunity in the Southport stabbings. He falsely claimed on Telegram that the attacker was an immigrant who had arrived in the UK on a small boat, using the fake name Ali Al Shakati. This was entirely untrue, the attacker was, in fact, born in Wales, but the truth didn’t matter. What mattered was the narrative Trotta could spin, one that played into the far-right’s ongoing campaign to demonise migrants and stir public fear.
When confronted with the falsehood, Trotta simply shrugged. “Who doesn’t make mistakes?” he said. “But whatever happened, he is still a migrant, even if he was born in Wales.” This casual dismissal of the truth encapsulates the wider strategy of far-right disinformation: facts are bent and twisted to serve a greater purpose, which in this case is to spread hatred and division. For Trotta, disinformation is not an unfortunate error, it’s a tool to be wielded, and platforms like Telegram provide the perfect environment for it to thrive.
The Spread of Disinformation: A Global Effort
To understand how misinformation about the Southport incident spread, journalists worked with Prose, an open-source intelligence start-up that monitors extremist and conspiracist groups online. Prose tracks over 10,000 extremist groups daily, archiving their posts to create a clearer picture of how disinformation networks operate. Together, we analysed online conversations surrounding the Southport stabbings over the two weeks following the incident.
In total, we reviewed 11,051 messages from 1,496 different chats and channels on Telegram. Our findings were alarming: out of the top 20 most influential accounts pushing disinformation about the Southport attack, only six were based in the UK. The majority of the accounts that spread these narratives were located abroad, indicating that the far-right movement is truly global in nature.
This challenges the notion that the unrest that followed the stabbings was purely a British issue. The narrative that incited riots on the streets of British cities wasn’t shaped domestically but was influenced by far-right actors in other countries; actors who were keen to exploit the incident for their own ends. These influencers, many of whom are based in countries like Germany, the United States, and Russia, used the Southport stabbings as a flashpoint to stoke racial hatred and division across borders.
Al Baker, managing director of Prose, explains, “While all the action is happening on the ground and people in Britain are dealing with the consequences of this misinformation, the people stoking the violence, the people flooding Telegram and other platforms with disinformation, are largely based outside the UK.” This reveals a key characteristic of the modern far-right: it’s not a centralised movement bound by geography, but a decentralised network of influencers and followers, working together to spread disinformation and provoke unrest wherever they see an opportunity.
The Decentralised Far-Right: A New Model of Extremism
This transnational far-right network represents a significant shift in how extremism operates. Traditionally, far-right movements were organised around specific leaders or groups, often bound by national borders. But today’s far-right has evolved into a global network, united not by formal structure but by a shared ideology of hate and division.
The head of MI5, Ken McCallum, recently highlighted this shift, describing the far-right’s new model as “crowd-sourced.” Rather than relying on formal organisations, today’s extremists piece together their beliefs from a patchwork of online sources, drawing from a vast pool of conspiracy theories, grievances, and disinformation. This creates a dangerous mix of individuals who may not belong to any specific group but are united by a common cause: to disrupt society and provoke conflict.
This “pick-and-mix” ideology makes the far-right both more flexible and more dangerous. It allows extremists to quickly mobilise around local incidents, turning them into national or even international crises by spreading disinformation online. The Southport stabbings are a case in point. Within days, far-right influencers across Europe and the United States had seized on the incident, using it to stoke anger and fear in their respective countries.
The disinformation that spread in the aftermath of the stabbings had real-world consequences. On 3 August, violent clashes broke out in Bristol between protesters and counter-protesters, resulting in a chaotic scene where police horses charged into crowds, and rioters threw bottles at officers. The violence continued as the mob moved towards a hotel housing asylum seekers, and several participants were later sentenced to prison for their roles in the disorder.
One of those convicted was 34-year-old Dominic Capaldi, a man with no known ties to far-right extremism. His involvement in the riots took everyone by surprise, including his neighbours. David Lomax, who lives next door to Capaldi, described him as “just a caring bloke and a very quiet chap,” adding, “He got dragged into it somehow, and he didn’t realise what he was getting dragged into.” This highlights the insidious nature of far-right disinformation: it can radicalise ordinary people, turning them into unwitting participants in violent unrest.
The judge overseeing Capaldi’s case recognised this, stating that the unrest had been fuelled by disinformation circulating on social media. And Capaldi’s story is not unique. Many of those involved in the violence in Bristol had no previous history of extremism. They were drawn in by the wave of misinformation that swept across the internet, pushed by far-right actors intent on stirring up trouble.
How the Global Far-Right Operates
To understand how this network of far-right influencers works, let’s turn again to Prose, whose network analysis of Telegram groups revealed the international scope of the far-right’s disinformation campaign. The network map they created showed how different far-right groups interacted during the two weeks following the Southport stabbings. The map highlighted several clusters of activity, with UK-based groups in red, dwarfed by non-UK groups in purple (English-speaking), orange (German-speaking), and dark blue (pro-Russian). Below them, yellow nodes represented Russian-speaking accounts.
This map illustrated a fundamental truth about today’s far-right: it’s global. The people spreading hate and disinformation are not confined to any one country. They are part of a larger, interconnected network that spans borders and languages. This global reach allows far-right influencers to amplify each other’s messages, creating a feedback loop of hate that can quickly spiral out of control.
One of the key strategies employed by these far-right groups is to seize on any incident that could plausibly be linked to immigration or racial tension. Whether or not the facts support their narrative is irrelevant. The goal is to exploit the incident to inflame public opinion and provoke a backlash. As Baker from Prose explains, “Any incident which could plausibly involve an immigrant, a Muslim, someone who isn’t white, regardless of whether in fact they did it or not, these communities are going to kick into action and try and stoke up division and racial hatred.”
Social Media: A Megaphone for Hate
Telegram has become the platform of choice for many far-right influencers due to its lax content moderation policies. While Telegram claims to remove groups that promote violence, it remains a key hub for far-right extremists who use it to spread disinformation and coordinate activities. However, Telegram is not the only platform being exploited by the far-right.
X, formerly known as Twitter, also played a significant role in spreading disinformation during the Southport unrest. Research disclosed by Clash Digital, a consultancy that specialises in tracking online extremism, found that the most widely shared posts on X during the first three days of the unrest were predominantly from non-UK accounts. These posts took local incidents and reframed them in a way that pushed inflammatory content into the UK’s online discourse.
One of the most prominent examples of this was a post by Amy Mek, a far-right influencer based in the United States. Mek took a video of a peaceful vigil in Southport, originally posted by freelance journalist Jacqui McDonald, and recontextualised it to fit her anti-immigrant narrative. The video, which had shown a community coming together to mourn the victims of the stabbings, was transformed by Mek into a spectacle of supposed Islamic dominance, with claims that the Muslim community was “swarming the streets” and “seizing control of public spaces.”
Mek’s version of the video went viral, receiving 5.5 million views in just a few days—compared to the 11,000 views McDonald’s original post received. This tactic of repurposing real events to fit a false narrative is a hallmark of far-right disinformation campaigns. By taking an emotionally charged incident and twisting the facts, far-right actors can create a powerful tool for spreading hate and division.
The Consequences of Misinformation
The far-right’s use of social media to spread disinformation and incite violence is not just a problem for the UK. It’s a global issue, and its consequences are far-reaching. The events in Southport and Bristol are a stark reminder of how quickly disinformation can escalate into real-world violence, with far-right actors capitalising on local tragedies to push their agenda.
This global network of far-right extremists poses a growing challenge for security services, who are now dealing with a threat that is far more diffuse and decentralised than traditional far-right movements. As Ken McCallum of MI5 has warned, the far-right’s “crowd-sourced” model of radicalisation means that individuals can be radicalised online without ever coming into direct contact with a formal extremist organisation.
The online far-right may be less structured than its predecessors, but it remains a potent force. Many of the groups involved in spreading disinformation around the Southport stabbings are linked to more extreme neo-Nazi factions that openly advocate for racial violence. These groups, while on the fringes of the far-right movement, play a crucial role in shaping the tactics and targets of broader far-right networks.
A Growing Threat
The events in Southport, and the riots that followed, serve as a reminder of the dangerous potential of far-right disinformation. As the far-right continues to evolve and adapt to the digital age, their ability to influence and incite violence only grows stronger. Today’s far-right is not confined to any one country or movement; it’s an international network of extremists, united by a shared ideology and a common goal of spreading hate and division.
For governments, security services, and civil society, the challenge is clear. The far-right has shown that it can mobilise quickly, using misinformation to manipulate public opinion and provoke unrest. And as long as these networks continue to operate unchecked, the risk of future violence remains high.
The Southport stabbings were not the first time far-right disinformation has fuelled violence, and they won’t be the last. But they should serve as a wake-up call. The global far-right is a growing threat, and unless decisive action is taken to counter their disinformation campaigns, the consequences could be even more devastating next time. The memorials in Southport stand as a testament to the grief felt by the community, but they also serve as a stark warning of what can happen when misinformation and hatred are allowed to spread unchecked.
Those Who Believe Christian Values Are At Stake By Supporting The Far Right Cause, Think Again
KEEP US ALIVE and join us in helping to bring reality and decency back by SUBSCRIBING to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ1Ll1ylCg8U19AhNl-NoTg AND SUPPORTING US where you can: Award Winning Independent Citizen Media Needs Your Help. PLEASE SUPPORT US FOR JUST £2 A MONTH https://dorseteye.com/donate/
