Swinney urges social media platforms to combat misinformation

The Scottish first minister John Swinney has released a letter addressed to social media platforms calling for action to combat the spread of misinformation.

He sent the letter to X, Meta and TikTok following the ruse in racist and hateful material online.

He began: "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."

He said 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," he said, "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."

Ofcom published a letter with similar sentiments this week, saying that "there is no need to wait to make your sites and apps safer for users."

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

He called for the social media platforms to outline the action they are taking to combat the spread of misinformation and what steps being taken to address racist and hateful speech across your platform.