this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2024
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The woman accused of being first to spread the fake rumours about the Southport killer which sparked nationwide riots has been arrested.

Racist riots spread across the country after misinformation spread on social media claiming the fatal stabbing was carried out by Ali Al-Shakati, believed to be a fictitious name, a Muslim aslyum seeker who was on an MI6 watchlist.

A 55-year-old woman from Chester has now been arrested on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred, and false communication. She remains in police custody.

While she has not been named in the police statement about the arrest, it is believed to be Bonnie Spofforth, a mother-of-three and the managing director of a clothing company.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (4 children)

I appreciate the discussion. I knew this wouldn't be a popular take and almost deleted it before commenting.

Again, I think spreading lies on the internet is an appalling thing to do, but I just wanted to share my disbelief that someone could be arrested for it. Like, imagine if the cops showed up with handcuffs for everyone's grandparents for every racist email forward (or Facebook post) they shared.

I know it's tempting to want bad things to happen to people we don't like, but I think situations like this are a test of our ethics and values.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Again, I think spreading lies on the internet is an appalling thing to do, but I just wanted to share my disbelief that someone could be arrested for it.

How is it really different from starting a white supremacy group and calling to 'expel immigrants' in posters around a city? The only difference from any other racist/terrorist action is that it was placed online. Do we really need to allow that to be okay?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The only difference from any other racist/terrorist action is that it was placed online.

I'd consider another big difference that one was a tweet with misinformation and the other is a call to action to "expel" people. The tweet is appalling but hardly terrorism.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Why? It was obviously a lie to rile people up. Why shouldn't it be considered cyber terrorism?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Like, imagine if the cops showed up with handcuffs for everyone's grandparents for every racist email forward (or Facebook post) they shared.

If only. Wouldn't that be fucking grand.

The amount of harm and loss of live those stupid things lead to has no place in society and people should be held responsible for it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Quite a dystopian world you're pining for.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Damn a world where I'm free from baseless hate being openly spread.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I think the problem is - who decides what speech qualifies and is arrestable?

What if it's Trump? Or congressional Republicans?

What if they claim that talking negative about Trump is hate speech and is arrestable? Or saying Vance fucks couches?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I take it that you can see a distinction between "Vance fucks couches" and "burn those people in their hotel". They are not the same thing.

If the distinction is hard to determine - that's why there's a judicial process.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Except no one said "burn those people in their hotel".

That's kind of the point being made by all of the dissenters in this thread.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Cf. previous comments about dogwhistles.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Do you have a source for her saying that? I haven't heard any reports that she did.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's a paraphrase. Read the tweet, not as if you're her defence lawyer, but ask yourself if a reasonable person would interpret it as a racist argument that violence was justified.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

It doesn't sound even remotely like what her tweet said. That's not a paraphrase.

If you're/they're going to use quotes of things to compare whether each should be free speech, your quote should at least resemble the actual speech used.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This isn't the usa and she doesn't have the absolute right to say anything she likes, and if her tweet leads to rioting, she's guilty of inciting violence. Where do you think the false idea that the child murderer was an asylum seeker and violence should happen as a result came from, and what makes you think you're a better investigator than the British police?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Wtf are you talking about? Did you follow this conversation at all...?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I'm talking about what her tweet said and why it's a crime in the UK. What did you think we were talking about?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Deliberately lying with an agenda of misleading the public in order to achieve certain goal should 100% be a criminal offence.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I'm on your side. Without a direct call to action that breaks some laws, the idea that you can be arrested for "false communication" is straight up dystopian to me.