Study finds ‘alarming' role played by social media in sparking racial intimidation in North

Irish Times

02-05-2025

Social media is playing an 'alarming' role in fostering racial intimidation and far-right narratives in Northern Ireland, according to a report published on Friday.
The study, commissioned by the Belfast-based human rights NGO the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) with the support of the Equality Coalition, found anti-immigrant and racist incidents in the North were being 'significantly amplified' by far-right networks and figures, particularly in the Republic of Ireland and Britain.
These have 'pushed false narratives framing far-right anti-immigration rallies as moments of 'two communities ... putting their differences aside and coming together', falsely presenting Catholic and Protestant communities as united under a banner of anti-immigrant sentiment', the report said.
It also identified the 'innate toxicity' and 'alarming racist rhetoric and disinformation in online community forums'.
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The report said that 'under the guise of local discussion, these spaces circulate false claims about migrants and refugees, contributing to a climate of hostility and fear.
'Left unregulated, such platforms facilitate the spread of inflammatory narratives that not only fuel online hate but directly contribute to real-world racist intimidation and violence.'
Mapping Far Right Activity Online in Northern Ireland was written by the Rabble Co-operative, a Belfast-based technology co-operative of members with backgrounds in areas including human rights advocacy, trade union organising and policy research.
It examined the role of social media in a number of anti-immigration protests and racist incidents in Northern Ireland from 2023-25, including anti-immigration and Islamophobic protests and riots in Belfast in August 2024, and the online abuse of Northern Ireland's first black mayor, Lilian Seenoi-Barr.
It found 'a disturbing pattern of locally driven racist and anti-immigrant activity in Northern Ireland ... rooted in local dynamics, organised through private chat groups or offline interactions, with publicly accessible social media serving to frame narratives and escalate tensions'.
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Gardaí investigate presence of far-right figures from Dublin at Belfast riots
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In the case of the Belfast riots, the report said the involvement of anti-immigration activists from the South was key in amplifying the event beyond Northern Ireland, and 'succeeded in reaching a much broader audience', with two pieces of video content in particular playing a 'particularly significant role in shaping the general reporting on the protest'.
There were 'deliberate efforts online to portray the protests as uniting both Irish nationalists and British unionists against the perceived common enemies of immigration and Islam', it found, even though this was not the case.
'While social media analysis cannot definitively prove the extent to which the involvement of anti-immigrant activists from Dublin was deliberately staged to promote the narrative of 'nationalists and unionists united' against immigration, their participation was crucial in framing the protest in this way,' the report said.
The researcher and author of the report, Dessie Donnelly, said the report showed 'local incidents of racial intimidation are not isolated; tbehey are cynically amplified through a far-right online ecosystem that distorts public perception.
'Online community spaces that should foster genuine dialogue have instead become breeding grounds for toxic misinformation that directly endangers migrant and minority communities on the ground.
'Platforms must not be allowed to profit from this harm unchecked. We provide clear recommendations: stronger regulation, direct platform engagement to challenge lies and disinformation, and critical alternatives to existing social media ecosystems,' he said.
Mr Donnelly also called on civic society and public bodies to 'act decisively' and on political representatives to 'lead from the front ... dismantling stereotypes, providing fact-based rebuttals, and calling out racism in all its forms, online and off.'