Misinformation, racism and hateful material online: letter to social media companies

From: First Minister John Swinney

To:  X, Meta and TikTok

This week I met with representatives of faith and refugees groups to show solidarity with communities around the country.  They were clear to me about the impact of social media in spreading misinformation, raising alarm and the sense of threat in their communities. I also met with Scottish political party leaders and Police Scotland representatives to discuss the situation in Scotland and the rest of the UK. Police Scotland described social media posts that contain deliberate misinformation, with provocative and incendiary language with some potentially meeting the threshold for charge under Scotland’s hate crime legislation that came into effect in April this year.

It is clear to me that social media platforms have a duty to take action to ensure that individuals in our society are not subjected to hate and threatening behaviour, and that communities are protected from violent disorder.

I was struck by the communication from Ofcom this week reminding social media companies of their obligation to remove material that incites hatred or violence.

All political parties in Scotland stand together in resisting the prejudice and islamophobia that we have seen on the street in parts of the UK and online. 

Everyone has a role in stopping the spread of misinformation.  You and your platform have a specific responsibility to do so.

I would therefore be grateful if you could outline the action you are taking to combat the spread of misinformation on your platform and what steps being taken to address racist/hateful speech across your platform.  Given the seriousness of the situation action needs to be immediate and decisive. 

Police Scotland has specifically raised with me concerns about the time it takes for problematic posts to be removed when these are identified by law enforcement agencies. This increases the risk of spread of malicious content. I would wish to understand the steps you are taking to address this, particularly for content that police identify as illegal or harmful.

I am copying this letter to Peter Kyle MP, the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport.