Southport attack: how disinformation spread to start a riot

It didn’t take long for misinformation to start circulating online after the attacker struck the dance class in Southport.

UK law makes it a criminal offence to identify a suspect who’s under 18, and police have only said that he’s 17, was born in Cardiff and lived in a village near Southport.

But false claims about the suspect’s identity were quickly jumped on by far-right groups, leading to last night’s violent clashes outside a mosque.