Tony Rose and Rob Wray | A Data Desk Report | October 2026
Far-right agitators leverage a simple but effective social media strategy, spreading manufactured disinformation to convert legitimate political and social grievances into revenue for themselves.
These disinformation tactics become far more dangerous when they dial into emotive, real public concerns. Far-right agitators ignore the facts and instead peddle divisive lies, negatively impacting peoples’ ability to make informed choices on important issues.
You couldn’t make it up. But they do.
Today, more and more people get their news through social media. 60% of people ages 16 and over in the UK now exclusively use social media to get their news, according to research published by Ofcom in July 2026, Overall, 82% of people use digital platforms to get news, while only 76% watch broadcast television news.
It’s no surprise, then, that far-right agitators, groups and political figures push disinformation on social media to fit their narrative and agenda. This can lead to the normalisation of racist, anti-migrant and Islamophobic rhetoric, often combined with a distorted, shared belief that these claims are true. For them, manufactured disinformation isn’t just a tactic; it’s a business model.
These far-right actors use disinformation, social media algorithms and online extremist support networks to piggyback off people’s real concerns about our society and communities, with emotional content designed to provoke and radicalise audiences. By persistently flooding social media with inaccurate myths, bad-faith actors are able to push distorted far-right narratives contaminating the mainstream political discourse.
There is clearly nuance to many of these issues, and it is precisely this nuance that the far right exploits: they take issues that contain a degree of truth, or which they link to people’s very real worries about their lives, and distort them. This blog sets out the far-right fiction and the actual facts, and encourages people to think critically about the far right’s politically-motivated claims.
Fiction. Facts. Impact.
Below, we debunk some of the most common myths peddled by the far right, explaining the damage they do and exactly why their claims don’t stand up to scrutiny.
You will recognise the myths we describe below – now you can see if they still seem convincing alongside the actual facts. You can also check out our new Disinformation Decoder tool, where you can put social media fake news and far-right myths to the test yourself, and share the real facts and data on your social media.
The fiction: The far right keep immigration at the centre of political debate, framing it as a major crisis and claiming that “millions” of people are “invading” the UK.
The facts: Migration into the UK is decreasing by almost every measure. Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that last year (2025), total gross immigration was 813,000, a 20% decrease compared to the previous year (ending December 2024). In the same period, net migration also reduced to an estimated 171,000, down substantially from 331,000 the previous year (see chart below).
Figures from the Home Office for the same period showed that small boat arrivals totalled 41,472, accounting for around 5% of all immigration into the UK. More recent data from the Migration Observatory in 2026 shows that around 36,000 people arrived in the UK by small boats, down 13% on the same period the year before. In September 2026, the BBC reported that ”Between 1 January and 14 September 2026, a total of 17,425 people crossed the English Channel by small boat from France. This was down by 44% on the same period the previous year”, and the lowest since 2021.
The impact: By framing immigration as an “invasion”, the far right have created a dangerous perception gap. The public is prompted to believe immigration is rising when in fact it is falling. Rather than offering policy-based solutions to the very real issues all our communities are facing – like the rising cost of living and an NHS struggling from years of government underfunding – the far right distorts reality and scapegoats immigration. This normalises anti-migrant policies, generates fear, secures political support and ultimately mainstreams extreme far-right ideas like “remigration”.
The fiction: The far right claim that UK police operate a “two-tier” system that treats white Britons more harshly than ethnic minorities.
The facts: Research shows that the police overwhelmingly display systemic bias against, not in favour of, ethnic minority communities. In England and Wales, for instance, Black people are 3.8 times more likely than white people to be subjected to stop-and-search.
A 2026 King’s College London study found disinformation about ‘two-tier policing’ had 52% of people convinced that ethnic or religious minorities receive different sentences, with 29% thinking they get lighter ones, despite the Crown Prosecution Service Director stating that the data: “.. demonstrates conclusively that there is disproportionality, by which I mean that there’s a greater likelihood of being prosecuted if you come from an ethnic group that is not white British”.
The impact: By reframing isolated incidents as “proof” of widespread anti-white racism, far-right agitators completely dismiss evidence of longstanding discrimination experienced by people of colour at the hands of the police.
The fiction: The far right spin the myth that rates of violent crime are rising, and major cities like London are unsafe as a result – with a link to supposedly rising rates of immigration.
The facts: Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) shows that there has been no statistically significant change in crime in 2026 compared with the previous year. In 2025, the Metropolitan Police reported the city’s lowest annual murder rates since 2014. London crime also fell by 14% in the 12 months to June 2026. One of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, London is also considered to be one of the safest global major cities in the world.
Research from King’s College London found that people “believed 55% of convicted offenders were from ethnic minorities, when the real figure is 35%, and that foreign national offenders make up 25% of the prison population, more than double the true figure of 12%” (reflecting the proportion of non-British nationals resident in the UK overall). The beliefs of Reform voters were furthest from the reality, with these respondents believing 70% of offenders were from ethnic minorities. While 15% of sexual offences were committed by foreign nationals – again, reflecting the proportion of non-British nationals in the population – these respondents put the figure at 50%.
The impact: This reductivist disinformation affects public perception. Peddling this false link between migration and crime is a much-used tactic for the far right, used to capitalise on people’s fears and trick them into more extreme ideologies.
The fiction: For years, the far right have sought to mobilise people with the claim that migrant and Muslim men are a threat to women and children.
The facts: National data shows most Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) perpetrators are white, with ONS figures indicating Asian minorities are underrepresented. According to official data from the Ministry of Justice and the ONS, white defendants made up 88% of CSA prosecutions from 2022, 5 percentage points higher than their 83% share of the population. South Asian defendants accounted for 7%, slightly less than their 9% population share. The far-right claim that grooming gangs are predominantly of a single migrant ethnicity cannot be verified nationally due to inadequate ethnicity recording for two thirds of perpetrators.
And in fact, many of the men involved in far-right riots supposedly aimed at “protecting women and children” are later found to have convictions for domestic abuse. Following the 2024 anti-migrant riots, which were ostensibly about protecting women and children, police data revealed 1 in 5 men arrested have since been reported for domestic abuse.
The impact: This rhetoric reinforces the misconception that gender-based violence is caused by migrant strangers. In reality, one woman is killed every four days in the UK by a partner or an ex-partner, and more than 90% of perpetrators of rape and sexual assault are known to the victim, which means the remaining 10% cannot therefore all be assumed to be migrants.
The fiction: Far-right extremist content is simply “edgy,” “provocative,” “banter” or just plain “common sense”.
The facts: In reality, this is less about “banter” and more about making money. In 2026, Research from the Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS) identified a “shadow influencer economy” where creators turn divisive content into profit. Perverse social media algorithms compound this by increasingly rewarding conflictual and deliberately incendiary material. For example, The Guardian reported in August 2026 that Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe profits from his online content. Through X alone, his so-called “creator revenue” has surpassed £100,000 since 2024, averaging between £931 and £1,476 per hour from his posts.
The impact: Commercialising divisive “click-hate” has created a vicious cycle: outrage generates views and revenue which, in turn, fund more far-right content. This impacts people’s ability to make informed choices about our society, and turns us from active social media participants into misled, passive consumers. Recent research by HOPE not hate may indicate that this kind of monetised content can steer voters towards more extreme policies that in fact run contrary to their own socio-economic interests.
The fiction: Far-right movements increasingly frame themselves as “defenders of Christianity” against secularism, Islam, or “cultural Marxism”
The facts: After Stephen Lennon’s Unite The Kingdom Rally 2025, the Presidents of Churches Together in England stated that “the Cross and the Gospel of Christ must never be co-opted to support messages that breed hostility towards others.” A report by Christian think-tank Theos, meanwhile, found that many churches in the UK welcome and support people seeking asylum because these actions align with Christian teachings that reject the alienation of immigrants.
The impact: By co-opting Christianity, the far right is able to target new audiences. A Christian nationalist veneer helps them seek moral legitimacy and more importantly fundraising networks, tapping into funding from wealthy US Christian nationalist evangelists. This form of disinformation is not new: UKIP’s “Mass Deportation Tour” and “Walk with Jesus” marches used religious symbolism to push their exclusionary politics with “the cross treated as a KEEP OUT sign aimed at our Muslim neighbours and those seeking sanctuary on our shores,” according to a Christian commentator at the time.
Disinformation impacts informed choice and democracy
Disinformation has become a lucrative commodity and for the far right, it is their main business model. The spread of distorted information about immigration, crime and justice is no accident . It’s a deliberate strategy to manipulate people and, by extension, democracy. Each of the myths described above are carefully designed to create fear, make prejudice seem normal and destroy trust in UK institutions.
The 2024 riots and more recent vigilantism in coastal towns and at asylum centres are the inevitable result of a tactic that teaches people to see their neighbours as enemies rather than part of their communities. When people have been tricked into believing that institutions are corrupt, that minorities are dangerous and that democracy is failing, they are duped into supporting anyone who promises to “restore order,” by any means necessary.
As well as investigating and exposing prominent figures on the far right, HOPE not hate also scrutinises and challenges their claims, using actual data to help rebalance the debate, make us think twice before buying into false far-right propaganda, and combat the spread of this harmful disinformation.
Disinformation Decoder – Online tool
To fact check these and other false claims for yourself, use our Disinformation Decoder tool, where you can put social media fake news and far-right myths to the test yourself, and share the real facts and data on your social media.
For further information about this report, contact [email protected]
BBC report (September 2026). ‘Major deterrent’ needed for small boats, says Ed Davey https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm74kw59e2j1o
Bell, B., & Machin, S. (2013). Crime and immigration: New evidence from England and Wales (CEP Discussion Paper No. 1190). Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-9039-2-19
Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS). (2026). Devout Muslim making a living from Islamophobic AI slop. https://cetas.turing.ac.uk/news/devout-muslim-making-living-islamophobic-ai-slop
Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS). (2026). Publications. https://cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications/
Churches Together England. (2025, 23 September).[Press release]. https://cte.org.uk/app/uploads/2025/09/CTE-Presidents-statement-community-cohesion-250925.pdf
Crown Prosecution Service. (2026). Stop and search data. https://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/performance-management-and-case-outcomes/cps-quarterly-data-summaries
Electronic Immigration Network (2026). https://www.ein.org.uk/news/uk-net-migration-nearly-halves-171000-year-december-2025-ons-says
End Violence Against Women. (2026, June 12). Police data shows 1 in 5 men arrested during 2024 riots have since been reported for domestic abuse. https://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/police-data-shows-1-in-5-men-arrested-during-2024-riots-have-since-been-reported-for-domestic-abuse/
End Violence Against Women. (2025, September 8). 60+ orgs set out expectations for the VAWG strategy https://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/60-orgs-set-out-expectations-for-the-vawg-strategy/
Full Fact. (2026). Immigration. https://fullfact.org/immigration/
Home Office. (2025). How many people come to the UK each year? https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-june-2025/how-many-people-come-to-the-uk-each-year
Home Office. (2025). How many people claim asylum in the UK? https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-june-2025/how-many-people-claim-asylum-in-the-uk
Home Office. (2024). Ethnicity and violent offending. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ethnicity-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2024/statistics-on-ethnicity-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2024-html
Home Office. (2020). Group-based child sexual exploitation characteristics. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/group-based-child-sexual-exploitation-characteristics-of-offending
Home Office. (2025, December 8). National audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-audit-on-group-based-child-sexual-exploitation-and-abuse/national-audit-on-group-based-child-sexual-exploitation-and-abuse-accessible
Home Office. (2025). Stop-and-search ethnic disparity time series dashboard, 2010/2011 to 2024/2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6909de36c22e4ed8b0518421/stop-search-ethnic-disparity-time-series-dashboard.xlsx
HOPE not hate. (2026, July 21). Flood warning – How manufactured outrage on social media travels faster than facts. https://hopenothate.org.uk/2026/07/21/flood-warning-how-manufactured-outrage-on-social-media-travels-faster-than-facts/
HOPE not hate. (2025). State of hate 2025. https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/research/state-of-hate-2025/
Humanists UK. (2024). American Christians spending millions to push conservatism in the UK https://humanists.uk/2024/04/08/american-christians-spending-millions-to-push-religious-conservatism-in-the-uk/
LBC. (2026, 20 August) Farage using Christianity to channel anti-Muslim sentiment, says former archbishop of Canterbury https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/farage-christianity-channel-anti-muslim-sentiment-5HjdgJk_2/
LSE. Religion and Global Society. (2025, January 8). The grooming gang debate: Navigating race, politics, and justice in the UK. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2025/01/the-grooming-gang-debate-navigating-race-politics-and-justice-in-the-uk/
Metropolitan Police. (2026, January 12). Violence crackdown drives London’s homicide rate to record low[Press release]. https://news.met.police.uk/news/violence-crackdown-drives-londons-homicide-rate-to-record-low-504990
Metropolitan Police. (2026, July 23). Neighbourhood crime significantly falls in London, after Met boosts local policing[Press release]. https://news.met.police.uk/pressreleases/neighbourhood-crime-significantly-falls-in-london-after-met-boosts-local-policing-3459166?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Metropolitan Police. (2026). Crime statistics and data. https://www.met.police.uk/sd/stats-and-data/
Migration Observatory, University of Oxford. (2026). Briefing: Immigration and crime. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migrants-and-crime-in-the-uk/
Migration Observatory, University of Oxford. (2024). Publications. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/Ministry of Justice. (2024). Criminal court statistics quarterly, October to December 2023 [Data on defendants prosecuted for child sexual abuse offences].
National Police Chiefs’ Council. (2026). Data and publications. https://www.npcc.police.uk/
Northern Scot. (2025). Crime in England and Wales: Latest numbers and trends. https://www.northern-scot.co.uk/news/national/article/crime-in-england-and-wales-latest-numbers-and-trends-143499/
Ofcom Podcasts,Pay TV and public services (2026). https://www.ofcom.org.uk/media-use-and-attitudes/media-habits-adults/podcasts-pay-tv-and-public-service-broadcasting-top-trends-from-our-latest-look-the-uks-media-habits
Office for Budget Responsibility. (2024). Fiscal risks and sustainability https://obr.uk/frs/fiscal-risks-and-sustainability-september-2024
Office for National Statistics. (2025, November, 27). Long-term international migration, provisional: Year ending June 2025. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingjune2025
Office for National Statistics. (2024). Population by ethnicity, England and Wales, October 2022 to September 2023 [Ad hoc data]. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/adhocs/1871populationbyethnicityenglandandwalesoctober2022toseptember2023
Office for National Statistics. (2025). Crime by nationality and immigration status [Freedom of Information response]. https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/crimebynationalityandimmigrationstatus2025
Office for National Statistics. (2025). Homicide by ethnicity and nationality 2019 to 2025 [Freedom of Information response]. https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/homicidebyethnicityandnationality2019to2025
Office for National Statistics. (2025). Homicide in England and Wales, year ending June 2025. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice
Office for National Statistics. (2025). Homicide in England and Wales: Appendix tables [Data set]. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/appendixtableshomicideinenglandandwales/current
Office for National Statistics. (2025). Net migration statistics, year ending December 2025. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration
Office for National Statistics. (2025). Violent and sexual crimes in the UK committed by undocumented immigrants and White British people [Freedom of Information response]. https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/violentandsexualcrimesintheukcommittedbyundocumentedimmigrantsandwhitebritishpeople
Office for National Statistics. (2025). Crime and immigration by ethnicity and religion [Freedom of Information response]. https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/crimeandimmigrationbyethnicityandreligion
Parliament of the United Kingdom. (2022, July 24). The investigation and prosecution of rape: Government response to the Committee’s Eighth Report of Session 2021–22 (HC 507). https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmhaff/507/report.html
Premier Christianity. (2026). Why UKIP’s ‘Walk with Jesus’ march is a cynical manipulation of our faith. https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/why-ukips-walk-with-jesus-march-is-a-cynical-manipulation-of-our-faith/21129.article
“Grooming Gangs” – A Lack of Data and Racialized Narratives (2025). Saunders Law Review. https://www.saunders.co.uk/news/grooming-gangs-a-lack-of-data-and-racialized-narratives/
The Guardian News & Media. (2026, August 17). Public in England and Wales wrongly think most killers are minority ethnic. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/17/public-in-england-and-wales-wrongly-think-most-killers-are-minority-ethnic?shem=dsdf,sharefoc,agadiscoversdl,,sh/x/discover/m1/4
The Guardian News & Media. Immigration & Asylum (2026, January 1). https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jan/01/shameful-41000-people-reached-uk-by-small-boat-last-year-says-home-office https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10590/
The Guardian News & Media. (2026, June 4). Nowak murder: police accused of ‘anti-white bias’ five times more likely to stop black people https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/04/nowak-force-accused-of-anti-white-bias-five-times-more-likely-to-stop-black-people
The Guardian News & Media. (2025, December 14). The truth about crimes committed by foreign nationals in the UK. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/14/truth-about-crimes-committed-by-foreign-nationals-uk
The Guardian News & Media. (2025, February 19). UK Islamophobic assaults surged by 73% in 2024, anti-hate crime charity reports. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/feb/19/uk-islamophobic-assaults-surged-by-73-in-2024-anti-hate-charity-reports#1
‘Theos’. (2025). From Strangers to Neighbours: The church and the Integration of Refugees https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/cmsfiles/Forced-migrants-report-book-final-COMBINED.pdf
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2026). Asylum in the UK. https://www.unhcr.org/uk/asylum-in-the-uk.html
Prefer to listen? Click the play button to hear the audio version. Harry Shukman Reform UK is staffed by oddballs and enigmas, but none odder…
