Ofcom given right to CENSOR social media posts in proposals put forward after UK riots

In moments of crisis, Ofcom would be able to apply to a judge to gain emergency powers that would momentarily allow it to demand action taken by online platforms.

This could also be achieved by altering the “special circumstances” directive in the Online Safety Act 2023, the CCDH said.

The stipulation allows the Science, Innovation and Technology minister to flag an issue to the regulator if they have reasonable grounds for thinking there is a threat to national security or to the health and safety of the public.

If approved, the proposals, could put online platforms and their owners at the mercy of the regulator.

The recommendations, which have been seen by The Times, come after the fatal stabbings of three schoolgirls in Southport. Misinformation ran rife online in the aftermath, prompting widespread riots across the UK.

False claims circulated online that the suspect was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat, which resulted in some Britons acting on their frustrations about immigration. Mosques and migrant hotels were attacked in the violence.

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The amendments were proposed on August 16, following an emergency meeting to discuss the role of social media in the riots, which was attended by top officials from the Home Office, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ofcom and the counterterrorism internet referral unit at the Metropolitan Police.

Musk, who owns X, posted online that “civil war is inevitable” in the wake of the Southport stabbing attack.

No10 quickly hit back and said there was “no justification” for the Tesla CEO's comments.

Starmer's official spokesman said: “There's no there's no justification for comments like that.

“What we've seen in this country is organised violent thuggery that has no place either on our streets or online.”

The Government called for social media companies, such as X, to remove criminal material and hate-filled misinformation.

The Prime Minister warned that “the criminal law applies online as well as offline”.

Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the CCDH, said that X was particularly rife with disinformation.

“The owner of X, Elon Musk, personally shared false information about the situation to his 195 million followers and made a show of attacking the UK government’s response to the outbreak of violence,” Ahmed said. “Rather than ensuring risk and illegal content were mitigated on his platform, Musk recklessly promoted the notion of an impending ‘civil war’ in the UK.

“Musk has transformed Twitter, once the go-to source for journalists, politicians and the public for real time news, into X, a platform with imperceptible moderation and the morality of Telegram,” he said.

“We need all of us in British society — politicians, regulators, big companies advertising on social media, the press and the public — to decide if we want to continue this toxic relationship with an increasingly abusive boyfriend, X, or break up for good”.

A spokesman for Ofcom said that “any changes to the legislation would be a matter for the Government and Parliament”.