'False facts' fuel clashes over deadly UK stabbing

Misinformation shared online has come under renewed focus in the UK after violent clashes fuelled by suspected far-right agitators erupted after a deadly knife attack on a group of children.

Community leaders, politicians and academics have blamed social media for helping to spread false or unverified information about Monday's stabbing spree in northern England, which left three children dead and five others critically injured.

The reaction escalated into violence Tuesday night when a group -- believed to include supporters of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) -- rioted for several hours in the Merseyside town of Southport where the attack occurred.

Police have blamed the disturbances on "many people who do not live in the Merseyside area or care about the people of Merseyside".

Marc Owen Jones, a Doha-based propaganda and hate speech researcher, said the spiralling events were particularly susceptible to online misinformation.

"Because of the nature of the tragedy, everyone's kind of emotional," he told AFP.

"So people react to this news and it spreads really quickly and once it spreads online, it means it's spreading offline."