An analysis of online vulnerability to serious violence in the UK
At the time of writing, the UK is currently experiencing record levels of serious violence.
In April 2019, it was announced that knife crime levels in England and Wales, including knife homicide, have reached the highest rates since records began in 1946. This rise includes a 46% average increase in knife-related offences in 34 English and Welsh counties since 2010, compared with an 11% rise in London.
It is widely recognised that the online space plays a significant role in encouraging and propagating violence in the UK. Social media platforms have been used to document, encourage and glamorise violence. Online retailers can also be used to circumvent laws against the purchase of weapons with little or no age verification.
We gathered anonymised search traffic data from 27th April – 12th May to map vulnerability to serious violence and engagement with harmful content online in the UK. We also isolated a sample of 20 videos uploaded to YouTube between January 2018 and May 2019, and which either incite or encourage violence.
The report details our findings in full and contains recommendations for future programming.
