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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Lucy Garcia

Outrage as Twitter platforms far-right group beneath Lesley Riddoch tweet

AN MSP has criticised X/Twitter for platforming a far-right group beneath a post by Lesley Riddoch on the site.

Following the Believe in Scotland/Yes for EU march and rally in Edinburgh yesterday, Riddoch took to the site to congratulate all who had attended.

“What a beautiful sight,” she said.

“Ten thousands Yessers in Edinburgh. Great unscripted speech by Humza & so well organised by @believeinscot & @YesforEU”.

Organisers of the rally said it was believed around 25,000 people attended the event throughout the day.

However, far-right group A Force for Good – whose founder Alistair McConnachie was exposed as denying that Jews were murdered in gas chambers in the Holocaust – claim that their own video of the march taken on the Royal Mile proved the attendance was 3989.

Despite the video appearing to fail to take into account the fact that many attendants of the rally would not have arrived via the Royal Mile, A Force for Good’s claim was used as a “community note” on the site.

Community notes are intended to be used a moderation tool to combat misinformation on the site.

But there is concern that the system, which is reliant upon X users who apply to contribute their own community notes, increasingly displays politically partisan information as fact.

Scottish Greens MSP criticised the use of A Force for Good as a source beneath Riddoch’s tweet.

He said: “Absolutely appalling to see a ‘community note’ added to @LesleyRiddoch’s tweet which cites as its source the blog of a Holocaust denier who was expelled from @CommunityNotes”

The group, which contains various former members of UKIP and the BNP, have increasingly been spotted at pro-independence rallies waving Union flags.

Earlier this year one member of the group, Max Dunbar, was heckled at a gender-critical rally for holding a sign which read: “Defy the Gaystapo”.

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