Police at the door, no its not a free speech issue

Blue ticks profit as a viral video leads to police having to address rampant disinformation, again

The latest concocted outrage filling up timelines on X and likely to still be referenced by the likes of the Telegraph, GB News and TalkTV is about police knocking on a door to ask a thirteen year old girl to hand over her phone.

One of the first accounts to publish what turns out to be a much edited clip comes from the prolific disinformation account Concerned Citizen. After eleven hours the post had been viewed over 7 million times.

The video went viral with various claims, it was a non-hate crime or the online safety act, as usual none of the usual characters with large followings stopped to consider if this might have been about more than simply viewing a social media post.

The police were forced to respond to the rampant disinformation. The police are investigating malicious communications, a fake account set up in someone else’s name sending indecent messages, considering the police wanted to speak to a teenage girl its likely the others involved are of a similar age.

Incidents like this are child safeguarding issues, which can result in real harm to all those caught up in it. The content of indecent messages can further complicate the situation.

Unsurprisingly the police statement hasn’t been enough to prevent many from continuing to share the misleading clip. Many large accounts have acknowledged the police statement but have kept their initial incorrect outrage farming posts up. For these networked blue tick accounts the hundreds of thousands or even millions of views they get on X for sharing disinformation generates an income. Musk rewards disinformation, and his algorithms amplify it.

Tidy who writes for the Telegraph seems to have forgotten the case is a 13 year old girl who certainly won't be facing a prison sentence.

Unfortunately its not just the questionable anonymous accounts with huge followers counts that amplified this example of disinformation, media characters from GB News and TalkTV were quick off the mark as were journalist from print media, particularly those who write for the Telegraph.

As the truth of the police statement began to catch up with the lies, there began to be more posts from those permanently unpleasant right wing accounts focusing on the police officers in a combination of misogyny: for instance referring to the blonde officer as a bimbo, and intense racism towards the officer with the head covering.

Allison Pearson of the Telegraph and Free Speech Union (FSU) said on X that if officers turn up at your door you should never let them inside the home without a warrant (in reality there are numerous exceptions). She also recommends phoning the FSU.

Short clips of police at doorsteps missing important context and repackaged in disinformation are becoming their own genre of outrage farming, generating views and income while being used by the FSU to promote membership. With those linked to the FSU advising the public to film any encounter with the police were are likely to see more of these clips which will inevitably have been cynically edited to portray the police in the worst possible light.

There will be cases where the police have acted incorrectly, or where following the law leads to police investigating a minor offence, however in general these cases aren’t leading to prosecutions.

These stories gain considerable traction in the US, the Trump administration requires the narrative its trying to paint in the UK for several reasons. First it wishes to install a sycophant in the form of Nigel Farage in Downing Street, it also needs to claim Europe is on the brink in order to justify radical policies and Trump's own clampdown on free speech.

The truth doesn't matter, each example strengthens the bias of those who already believe the UK has become like North Korea. An element of the MAGAfication of the UK strategy is about creating a hard-core radicalised base embedded in conspiracy culture that can be relied on to take to the streets when called.