YESTERDAY’S KNIFE ATTACKS in Stoneybatter provided the latest opportunity for racist social media users and fake news outlets, who routinely pounce on any report of a violent incident in Ireland, to spread unfounded claims before the full details have emerged. 

It has become a predictable pattern on X in recent years, one that has been boosted by the platform rewarding clicks and likes with payment.  

Far-right agitators on X pick up on reports of a violent incident and immediately begin speculating about the ethnicity, religion and immigration status of the suspect. This is followed by demands that the suspect be identified, coupled with claims that if the attacker was Irish, they would be named immediately. 

One recent example of this could be seen when Connolly Station in Dublin was evacuated in January because a man carrying a decommissioned firearm caused alarm. The usual collection of far-right accounts immediately began spreading completely false rumours that foreigners had caused the disturbance. 

It is not possible to name suspects at such an early stage of a fast-moving story like the one in Stoneybatter. There are also legal restrictions preventing media outlets from naming suspects until they are charged. 

Reports that a foreign national had been arrested following the Stoneybatter attacks were also quickly met by calls for Ireland to close its “open” borders. 

They also referred to the Latin American suspect as “unvetted”, a common claim in racist circles. There is no evidence to support the claim that the man was not vetted, but it fits the narrative that Irish racists frequently promote, which attempts to link immigration to crime. 

While anti-immigration agitators consistently claim that immigrants, including asylum seekers, are “unvetted”, they hardly ever say what they mean by this. The asylum process is itself a form of vetting because it assesses a person’s claim for international protection. 

People who arrive in Ireland from outside the European Union need to apply for visas to do so, another form of vetting. 

“In the immediate aftermath of serious public incidents, we now frequently see floods of false, misleading and potentially harmful claims on social media platforms,” said Ciaran O’Connor of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. 

“We know that the architecture of platforms makes it astonishingly easy for sensationalist allegations to go viral – enragement sadly equals engagement – and platforms often prioritise user attention over accuracy.” 

Double standards conspiracy theory 

What we know so far about the attack and the suspect is that yesterday afternoon, between 2:30 and 3:30, a man of Latin American origin assaulted three Irish men with a blade, leaving all three hospitalised. We know this because the information has been provided by An Garda Síochána. 

Among the far-right in Ireland, it is common to hear people complain that the Irish media attempts to play down crimes committed by immigrants while paying more attention to crimes committed by white Irish people. 

One post that was viewed almost 55,000 times on X said: 

“If the man arrested in #Stoneybatter is Irish it will lead the news tomorrow. If the story suddenly disappears, we know it’s a foreign national. That’s the template the media use now. Everyone knows it, the story has gone from stabbing to slash type wounds, that’s usually a sign.” 

The alleged attacker, as it turned out, is not Irish but the story of the attack has led the coverage of national news outlets today. 

Another post that was seen 21,000 times on X said: “Any Irish politician, media outlet or journalist omitting the nationality of the perpetrator or downplaying the seriousness of the mass stabbing event in Dublin is a traitor and should resign.”

It is not normal practice for gardaí to immediately name suspects when they are arrested. Suspects are named when they appear in court and are charged, not before. 

Yesterday, gardaí felt the need to dispel rumours that the attacker was an asylum seeker. An Garda Síochána has taken to providing information like this because of the rampant spread of unfounded speculation and outright lies that surround such incidents.  

Far-right anti-immigrant activist and former election candidate Derek Blighe said in a post on  X today: “The Irish government Imported a homeless south American man, who yesterday specifically targeted Irish people to stab. Economic migration makes sense to a point, what’s happening in Ireland is insane.”

The use of the word “imported” echoes the ethnonationalist ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory, whose proponents believe elites are importing foreigners in order to slowly wipe out the white people of Europe and other majority white states.  

Monetised misinformation 

The spread of rumours, speculation and misinformation has been encouraged by the monetisation of engagement on the social media site X, a policy implemented since Elon Musk bought the platform in 2023. Paid “verified” users can receive compensation from X if they reach a certain level of engagement on the platform. 

This has turbocharged the proliferation of accounts that pick up on trending news stories around the world, regardless of the reliability of the source, and seek to garner engagement with alarmist language. 

A post by an account called ‘JUST IN World’ posted a video unrelated to the Stoneybatter attack while saying the suspect was “a foreigner”. 

Another user called Don Keith wrote: “Breaking: Multiple stabbings in Ireland with victims having their throats cut. Reports say these were targeted attacks.” 

Posts in this vein often use phrases like “unconfirmed reports” and are written in the style of news reports. The platform is awash with accounts representing themselves as news outlets, many of which promote rumours and in some cases outright lies in the immediate aftermath of such incidents. 

In the case of the Stoneybatter attacks, gardaí initially released a statement to media outlets, including The Journal, saying they were at the scene of a “serious incident”.

While many people on X were already saying multiple people had been stabbed, news outlets cannot rely on rumours being spread online when reporting the news.

Some news sources did report rumours that the attacks involved people from Romania, which then turned out to be false.

X users also spread false information about the number of victims, which was three. 

Many said four people had been attacked, while some claimed the number was seven. 

One of those X users was Dublin city councillor Gavin Pepper, who replied to an RTÉ article on X that carried the headline: “Arrest as gardaí at ‘serious incident’ in Stoneybatter.”  

Pepper replied: “4 people stabbed and this is the RTÉ statement u are a disgrace.” 

It was not an “RTÉ statement”, it was a report based on a Garda Press Office statement. 

Pepper later replied saying: “Update it was 3 people who was attacked.” 

Ciaran O’Connor of the ISD said,”we now have platform incentives that reward irresponsible behaviour with monetised incentives to encourage further cycles of instant speculation and amplification”.

“Misidentifying suspects, mistaking details about incidents or spreading panic and prejudices can all lead to real world harm.

“Instead of endorsing and enabling this style of content, platforms should encourage more responsible activity, enforce their community guidelines and direct users towards reputable, credible sources of news and information.”

Ever wondered how disinformation spreads so rapidly – or who is behind it? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online.

The Journal’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.