Racist right-wing social media glorifies terrorism against Muslims after the Finsbury Park Attack
The far-right group, Britain First, posted about the Finsbury Park Mosque terrorist attack on its Facebook page. Many of the responses to the post tried to justify the attack on Muslims.
One respondent said, “The muslims are asking for it [sic]”. Other comments followed similar themes of victim blaming.
Others praised the terrorist, Darren Osborne, who was called a “patriot” and “hero” on the social media site. Others critiqued the small death toll from his attack.
The person who reported the threatening comments to the Home Office was concerned that these threatening comments against Muslims would not be treated with the same seriousness as similar (or milder) comments made by alleged Islamist extremists.
Under the Terrorism Act of 2006, these Facebook comments could be considered a crime because they may amount to an “encouragement of terrorism.”
Sources
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/finsbury-park-terror-attack-van-latest-comments-glorifying-terrorism-reported-government-home-office-a7798356.html