News Story

Riots, misinformation, and social media

Nancy Pontika, Sunday 4 Aug 2024

KMi’s Director; Prof Harith Alani, was interviewed by The National newspaper who sought his views on the role of misinformation in fueling the recent riots across the UK. Harith and his team in KMi have been researching misinformation for many years, focusing on the patterns in which misinformation and their fact-check spread online.

Misinformation played a critical role in the spread of violence following the fatal incident. Harith criticised social media platforms for not doing enough to curb the spread of misinformation and far-right rhetoric. Harith argued that social media platforms can introduce more proactive AI methods for the detection of potential fake news before they are published by users, and to restrict the visibility of users who regularly promote false information and spread hatred. KMi is one of the leading labs in developing advanced technologies for detecting fake news and hate speech.

Harith warns that our current challenges in curbing online disinformation will worsen as AI-generated content becomes more advanced and harder to detect. Harith said that “with generative AI, the next wave of misinformation is going to be far more powerful in terms of convincing populations of false claims. Platforms, governments and society really need to get ready for that”.