Written evidence submitted by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (SMH0067)

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants is a national charity who has championed migrants’ rights since 1967. For more than half a century, JCWI has been challenging policies that lead to discrimination, destitution and the denial of rights, as well as providing much-needed legal advice to the people who need it most. We’ve helped tens of thousands of people secure their status, keep their families together and escape poverty. And we’ve consistently been one of the leading voices for a fairer, more just immigration system that works for everyone.

The racist riots of August 2024 shook the country but for organisations like ours, who have seen anti-migrant sentiment growing, this was the culmination of years of racist hostile environment policies and language. We feel that it’s imperative that we submit evidence to The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee to help stop the proliferation of hate speech online which incites racial violence and will lead to more attacks on the communities we serve.

• To what extent do the business models of social media companies, search engines and others encourage the spread of harmful content, and contribute to wider social harms?

We know that social media companies and search engines that rely on engagement and impressions to boost advertising revenue are less likely to moderate “high engagement” content, even if this content is harmful to our clients and causes. We have seen more and more digital content which targets the communities we serve – migrants and racialised people. Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, there has been a spike in racist and anti-migrant posts on the platform which gets a high level of engagement and goes unmoderated. This content generates revenue and engagement for social media companies, so they willingly turn a blind eye. It’s clear that the business models of social media companies – at the very least - enable anti-migrant language to flow, and in the worst cases, inflame it. 

• How do social media companies and search engines use algorithms to rank content, how does this reflect their business models, and how does it play into the spread of misinformation, disinformation and harmful content?

Increasingly, we have seen social media companies using algorithms to target people who engage the most with posts. This ultimately leads to those with the loudest and most polarising views receiving the most digital “airtime”. Our work has revealed the scale of mis and disinformation and the impact this has had in creating hate and intolerance towards migrants. We have seen the language of right-wing influencers parroted by the media and then these same sentiments repeatedly referenced in social media comments e.g. 'mass deportations,' 'illegal invaders,' 'scroungers,' 'parasites,' 'threat to the indigenous culture'.

• What role do generative artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) play in the creation and spread of misinformation, disinformation and harmful content?

We have seen a sharp rise in AI content across social media channels, from racist generated images of “asylum seekers crossing the Channel” to images of “migrants taking over London”. The proliferation of these images on social media have exacerbated the social panic around migration and led to increased digital targeting of our clients and organisations like ours. The ability to create images that look realistic but are very far from the truth has certainly contributed to the spread of misinformation, disinformation and harmful content. Social media users of all persuasions have become susceptible to AI imagery especially where it is not clearly defined as AI generated.

• What role did social media algorithms play in the riots that took place in the UK in summer 2024?

It’s clear that social media platforms enabled the spread of racist and anti-migrant sentiments which emboldened and encouraged those who have been radicalised by years of anti-migrant policies and rhetoric to take to the streets. Algorithms that promoted engagement and content with the most impressions, ended up platforming posts which encouraged violence against migrant communities.

• How effective is the UK's regulatory and legislative framework on tackling these issues?
• How effective will the Online Safety Act be in combatting harmful social media content?

The Online Safety Act is a move in the right direction, but its effectiveness is impossible to predict. Unless social media companies are forced to moderate racist and harmful content according to clear anti-racist guidelines and there are strong penalties, there will be very little change. The Act is one part, enforcement of the Act is another.

• What more should be done to combat potentially harmful social media and AI content?

AI is expanding rapidly, and many AI systems have been proven to magnify discrimination and inequality in society. It’s vital that we put checks on the remit of AI and ensure that AI generated content is clearly defined and managed. It should not be so easy to create racist content via AI generating platforms. We need visible, quantifiable input to AI algorithms by the communities of colour who are disproportionately impacted by them. This means more than surface level focus groups or surveys. Rather, we need people with lived experience involved at every step.

• What role do Ofcom and the National Security Online Information Team play in preventing the spread of harmful and false content online

At this moment and to our knowledge, Ofcom plays a minimal role in preventing the spread of harmful and false content online. So much harmful content exists online, so if Ofcom is playing a role, it isn’t effective.

• Which bodies should be held accountable for the spread of misinformation, disinformation and harmful content as a result of social media and search engines’ use of algorithms and AI?

We believe that the platforms that enable the spread of misinformation, disinformation and harmful content, namely social media companies and search engines should be held accountable and be given stricter content guidelines. There are also strong arguments that Ofcom, the government and ministries that regulate the digital space should be held accountable.

22 January 2025