Racist violence across the UK continues

‘Big Tech platforms are offering the far-right a powerful venue to incite hate and organise’ - Pat de Brún

Responding to the role of social media platforms amid the ongoing racist and Islamophobic violence in the UK, Pat de Brún, Amnesty Deputy Director at Amnesty Tech, said: 

“Big Tech platforms are offering the far-right a powerful venue to incite hate and organise.

“The racist violence spilling across the streets follows a period of intense scapegoating of refugees and migrants by politicians and others, through dangerous rhetoric and policies. In this context, social media algorithms have actively amplified and escalated xenophobic discourse. 

“These toxic algorithms are deliberately designed to prioritise engagement and act as incendiaries that fuel division, disinformation, and hate. These algorithms are integral to many Big Tech companies’ surveillance-based business model, which seeks to amass evermore swathes of our intimate personal data. This model has enabled eye-watering profits for a lucrative Big Tech industry, but has entailed disastrous long-term consequences for human rights, in particular for those most marginalised in society. 

“Now more than ever, it is clear that the incredibly invasive and harmful mass surveillance undertaken by major social media platforms must be banned and that their algorithms should be subject to strict regulatory oversight to ensure the protection of our rights.”