Lies spread on social media led to attack on man in Limerick

An analysis of the online discussions surrounding the incident, jointly conducted by the Hope and Courage Collective and Doras, highlights how social media, racial profiling, and coordinated vigilante actions fueled the assault.

The man, an international protection applicant in Ireland, was harassed, filmed, and publicly identified before the attack. This occurred after a fabricated Facebook post falsely accused him of inappropriate behavior towards children.

Within hours, the false claim gained traction across TikTok, Instagram, and X, with one video amassing over 249,000 views. On July 1st, he was surrounded and assaulted in public, suffering a broken nose and ultimately relocated for his own safety.

Self-proclaimed “community watch” groups filmed the man, disseminated his image, and framed the assault as a “citizen’s arrest.” The report’s authors emphasize that “despite multiple reports, violent content remained online”.

“This was not an isolated event. It is the consequence of a disinformation network that exploits fear and racism to rationalize violence,” stated Edel McGinley, Director of the Hope and Courage Collective, which monitors far-right activity.

What we’re seeing is the rise of co-ordinated vigilantism in Ireland, hiding behind the language of community safety.

In the days leading up to the attack, the victim was harassed and filmed in a local park, with the footage subsequently shared on social media.

The false allegation originated on the afternoon of Sunday, June 29th, when a woman posted a photo of the man accompanied by a fabricated story. This prompted a member of the self-styled “community watch” group Sinne Na Daoine to urge the “men of Limerick” to “protect its own”.

By the following day, a prominent Irish far-right account on X falsely claimed in a post that a “Muslim was cat calling children in People’s Park” and argued that the slow Garda response was “pushing society into vigilantism.” The post received 190,400 views before being removed.

Following the initial circulation of the fabricated story, a group confronted the Afghan man and contacted the Gardaí while filming. However, the man walked to the station himself for his own safety. Later, a video depicting him leaving the station was misrepresented as a “citizen’s arrest.”

“This man sought refuge in Ireland but instead became the target of an online disinformation campaign that turned violent,” said John Lannon, chief executive of the migrant support group, Doras.

He was treated with suspicion, fear, and hostility simply because of how he looked.

The report also revealed that the victim was later re-identified and harassed again in a different city.

The report’s authors concluded that “what is evident in this case is that the Irish far right uses neutral incidents to frame a false and dangerous narrative that is used to justify profiling, harassment and violent assault”.

Ms. McGinley highlighted the amplification of disinformation online and called upon European Commissioner Michael McGrath to take action.

“As a matter of urgency we need to tackle the toxic recommender system that pushes hate and disinformation into people’s social media feeds. People should be able to have control of what they see, not companies, driven by profit.”