Pakistan arrests man over Southport attack disinformation

Authorities in Pakistan have arrested a man on suspicion of cyber terrorism, in relation to disinformation thought to have fuelled UK unrest.

Police told the BBC that Farhan Asif was linked to a website which gave a false name for the suspected Southport attacker and suggested incorrectly that he was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a small boat.

The article, published on the website Channel3Now in the hours after the attack, was widely quoted in viral posts on social media.

Unrest broke out in England and Northern Ireland after the fatal stabbing attack, in which three young girls died.

On raiding Mr Asif’s property, the police recovered 2 laptops and a mobile phone used by Mr Asif.

After analysing the devices, the police say that the account on X (formerly Twitter) for Channel3Now was found active.

On Tuesday, police in Lahore said they had questioned Mr Asif about the article.

Mr Asif said he had written it based on information copied from a UK-based social media account without verifying it, a police officer told the BBC.

The officer told the BBC that Mr Asif said that he ran the website alone.

The police report states that Mr Asif told them that he runs the X account with the purpose of sharing national and international news, and that he picked up the alleged tweet from another twitter user - without checking the authenticity of the information before sharing.

The police say that he used his account “with the intent to glorify the incident about the arrest of a Muslim asylum seeker by police… and created a sense of fear, panic, insecurity in the Government and the public” and it is on this basis that they have filed a case against him.

The police report also states that “Farhan Asif admitted to providing misleading information to the BBC regarding his accomplices in an attempt to divert blame to others.”

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency has since taken up the case and will investigate whether anyone further is involved.

BBC Verify previously tracked down several people linked to Channel3Now and questioned a person who claimed to be “management” at the site.

That person told the BBC that the publication of the false name “shouldn’t have happened, but it was an error, not intentional”.

False information about the attacker spread online after three young girls were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July.

Violent disorder then broke out in Southport before spreading to towns and cities across England and Northern Ireland, fuelled by misinformation, the far-right and anti-immigration sentiment.

According to the latest Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) figure on Tuesday, 494 people have been charged in relation to the recent rioting and unrest.

More than 130 people have already been sentenced with most sent to jail.

Update: This article originally reported that police in Pakistan had told the BBC that Farhan Asif had been charged with cyber terrorism. The police have since confirmed that he is under arrest but has not been charged and we have updated our article to make that clear.