Online disinformation fueled UK riots but regulators can’t take action [Video]

LONDON — Ofcom, the U.K.’s media regulator, was chosen last year by the government as the regulator in charge of policing harmful and illegal content on the internet under strict new online safety regulations.

But even as online disinformation related to stabbings in the U.K. has led to real-world violence, Ofcom, Britain’s online safety regulator finds itself unable to take effective enforcement actions.

Last week, a 17-year-old knifeman attacked several children attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the English town of Southport in Merseyside.

Three girls were killed in the attack. Police subsequently identified the suspect as Axel Rudakubana.

Shortly after the attack, social media users were quick to falsely identify the perpetrator as an asylum seeker who arrived in the U.K. by boat in 2023.

On X, posts sharing the fake name of …