In interviews with 13 content moderators, industry experts and members of anti-extremism organizations, researchers heard that far-right messaging was the most commonly spread, including neo-Nazism, attacks on women, racialized and LGBTQ2S+ communities, and the spread of conspiracy theories like QAnon.

“These gaming-adjacent platforms offer extremists direct access to large, often young and impressionable audiences,” co-author William Allchorn said in a release. “They have become a key tool for extremist recruitment.”

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“I get a lot of hate”. The words of content creator Winta Zesu, who last year made $150,000 (£117,000) from posting on social media.

What separates Winta from other influencers? The people commenting on her posts and driving traffic to her videos are often doing so out of anger.

“Every single video of mine that has gained millions of views is because of hate comments,” the 24-year-old explains.

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MPs are to summon Elon Musk to testify about X’s role in spreading disinformation, in a parliamentary inquiry into the UK riots and the rise of false and harmful AI content, the Guardian has learned.

Senior executives from Meta, which runs Facebook and Instagram, and TikTok are also expected to be called for questioning as part of a Commons science and technology select committee social media inquiry.

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The BBC receives more abusive messages about Marianna Spring than anyone else. But the disinformation correspondent remains hopeful about people – and the world we live in

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Two men have been jailed for stirring up hatred on social media during widespread disorder across parts of the UK.

Tyler Kay, 26, was sentenced to 38 months in prison for publishing "utterly repulsive, racist" posts on X.

Jordan Parlour, 28, received a 20-month prison sentence for publishing written material intended to stir racial hatred on Facebook.

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Counter-extremism workers have warned of a rapid rise in the number of cases being referred to them by schools concerned about the influence of the self-styled misogynist influencer Andrew Tate.

Incidents include the verbal harassment of female teachers or other pupils and outbursts echoing Tate’s views, which are disseminated and spread mainly on social platforms TikTok and Instagram despite him being banned from them.

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