London; 10 July 2020 (UMMN): According to UK government counterterrorism agency report on Thursday; Neo-Nazis and far-right activists of the United Kingdom are advising their followers to “deliberately infect” Jews and Muslims with coronavirus.
According to a CNN report, these groups are exploiting the crisis to promote their divisive, xenophobic and racist narratives "to sow division" and create social discord.
"We have heard reports of British Far Right activists and Neo-Nazi groups promoting anti-minority narratives by encouraging users to deliberately infect groups, including Jewish communities," the report warned.
Meanwhile, far-right politicians and news organizations too have used the virus "to push forward their anti-immigrant and populist message," the report said, warning that the prevalence of such content normalizes hatred towards ethnic, racial and religious communities.
Muslim propagandists too have used the pandemic to claim that Covid-19 is divine punishment on the West for alleged "degeneracy," and punishment on China for the country's treatment of Uyghur.
In June, Chief Superintendent Nik Adams, the national coordinator for the UK's Prevent counterterrorism program warned that some vulnerable people will be "drawn towards terrorist activity," as schools, mental health services and public health services are hit by the pandemic, reported CNN.
The commission also cautioned that baseless conspiracy theories and misinformation were largely being spread online -- one fake social media post about Muslims breaching lockdown was shared 2,700 times, the report found.
"The pandemic has not discouraged extremists from propagating their hateful ideologies," lead commissioner Sara Khan said in a statement. "They have, as is always the case in a crisis, fully exploited the lockdown to promote dangerous conspiracy theories and disinformation, most notably online."
