How dubious website Channel3NOW fueled misinformation about Southport suspect in the U.K.

Within hours of the July 29 fatal knife attack in Southport, U.K., which left three girls dead, the name “Ali Al-Shakati” began flooding online platforms.

The name was falsely attributed to the suspect, along with claims he was on an MI6 watchlist and was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the U.K. by boat last year. While police were initially legally restricted on the details they could release, they did confirm the name being shared online was incorrect and that the suspect was born in the Welsh city of Cardiff. 

However, the damage caused by the misinformation had already taken root. The lack of clarity and verified information left room for false and harmful narratives to continue circulating online. This subsequently spilled over into days of violent riots, which the Guardian called "the worst outbreak of civil disorder in Britain for 13 years."

The online speculation focused on the suspect's background and motives. We swiftly refuted false claims that the suspect was an illegal immigrant. Other online users shared old and unrelated images supposedly showing the Southport suspect to reinforce anti-immigrant discourse – also debunked by Logically Facts.

The false name was proliferated by a shadowy website calling itself Channel3Now. According to an analysis by Logically, the parent company of Logically Facts, the site capitalized on organic anti-immigrant discourse to exacerbate anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.K. by spreading the false name of the suspect. Below, Logically Facts considers how the site's initial erroneous claims fueled the spread of misinformation about the Southport stabbing and the action being taken as a result. 

Screenshots of X posts falsely claiming the Southport suspect is called  “Ali Al-Shakati.” (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

Channel3NOW proliferates falsehoods about suspect

At 16:50 UTC on the day of the stabbing, the artificial news website "Channel 3NOW" published an article headlined, "17-year-old Ali Al-Shakati arrested in connection with the stabbings in Southport, England," tapping into the swirling discourse around the Southport suspect's identity. 

The article also includes authentic police statements and snippets of other reported facts on the incident to add credibility to its reporting. After the site's X (previously Twitter) account posted the article, the name "Ali Al-Shakati" spread across Facebook, Telegram, YouTube, and X. 

Screenshot of Channel3 NOW article claiming the Southport suspect is called Ali Al-Shakati, published on July 29. The article on the site has since been edited to exclude the false name. (Source: channel3now)

At some point, posts linking to the article were removed from Facebook and X, but the Independent reported that they had garnered almost two million views beforehand. On July 30, Channel3NOW removed "Ali Al-Shakati" from the article, but the name still appears in the article's URL.  

On July 31, the site apologized for "the misleading information published in a recent article on our website, Channel3NOW. Unfortunately, the information provided in that article was not accurate and did not meet our standards of reliability and integrity." 

The "news outlet" published multiple other stories about the Southport stabbing, including a mix of verified facts from reputable sources and speculative or unconfirmed information. On August 2, the site published on X what it incorrectly claimed was an image of the Southport suspect as an adult, which went viral on social media but was not confirmed by any reputable sources. 

Online users shared the same image accompanied by captions such as, "WTF!!! This is the '17-year-old kid' who stabbed and killed 3 white children??? The media is disgusting." Some users shared the image to claim the media was conspiring to hide the suspect's identity.

Screenshot of the Channel3 NOW X post, published August 2, displaying a false image of the identified Southport suspect  (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

The image actually shows a TikTok influencer, not the suspect, Axel Rudakubana. He released a statement saying his image was used to spread misinformation on TikTok on August 5. 

A history of misinformation

More than a week after the initial stabbing in Southport, Channel3NOWs attention has drawn away from Southport and ongoing riots in the U.K. and back to U.S. affairs and celebrities, suggesting the outlet is not a regular fixture of the U.K. media market. 

Channel3NOW has previously published content about the U.K. For example, the Channel3NOW X account published footage of the assault at Manchester Airport, but the coverage of the incident was minor compared to the coverage of the Southport stabbing. The online channels of the "news outlet" were largely focused on content from the U.S. before it quickly shifted its attention to the Southport story on July 29.

We examined previous reporting from Channel3NOW and found its channels also spread false information about the shooting at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on July 13. On its Rumble account, it shared a video of the shooting with the caption, "The gunman believed to be behind the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump has been identified as a Chinese man who was in a sniper position when the shots were fired at the rally." The information is false as the FBI quickly identified the suspect as Thomas Matthew Crooks, an American man from Pennsylvania.  

The outlet's X account also shared speculative posts about the rally shooting and unfounded claims of Thomas Matthew Crook's criminal history when he did not have one and was not on the radar of federal law enforcement, according to The New York Times.

Logically Facts contacted Channel3NOW for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. 

Disparate location markers give an unclear picture of the site

The variety of news stories on Channel3NOW's homepage, which include U.S. and U.K. politics, random obituaries of celebrities, and incidents of violence in the U.K., do not give any indication as to who owns or is responsible for it. 

Its articles do not include information about the authors but are credited to the "Channel3 Now Staff." The website is also flooded with advertisements, and unlike a standard news website, it does not allow a user to search for or return to find news articles. 

Screenshot of the Channel3 NOW’s frontpage on August 6. (Source: channel3now)

Despite no conclusive verification, several investigations have determined the site is operated from the U.S. or Pakistan. According to Logically's analysis, Channel3NOW was registered as a website on June 15, 2023. Its domain server appears to be located in Ireland and registrar located in Ireland. The platform's X account shows the U.S. as its location.

The website has frequently changed its name, which was previously known as "Fox3 Now" and "Fox3 News," the Mirror reported. Court records from December 2023, when Fox Media LLC sued Fox3 Now over disputed domain names, disclosed that two persons associated with the "Fox3 Now" were based in Pakistan. "Fox3" is still part of Channel3 NOW's source code, indicating that it is likely the same website and network. 

Some videos also explicitly appeared to target a Pakistan audience, with real Pakistan news organizations appearing in the video description. An OSINT investigation by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) suggested that the previous iteration of the website was run from an address in Pakistan. 

Theories on AI and Russian involvement

The U.K. government has noted the possibility of foreign state actors amplifying online disinformation that fuelled the riots. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said, "Clearly, we have seen bot activity online, much of which may well be amplified with the involvement of state actors amplifying some of the disinformation and misinformation," according to the Telegraph.

There are some markers to suggest Russian involvement, according to Logically, which noted old content on Channel3NOW’s YouTube account in Russian showing motor racing at the Izhvesk horse racing track. The account was inactive for six years before the content switched to clickbait videos attributed to "TRG Technologies" and "Fox3 Now." The YouTube account is no longer active. 

The Channel3 NOW article mentioning the wrong name was cited in multiple Russian state-affiliated sources, including RT and TASS. After Channel3 NOW removed the false name from the online article, it also disappeared from the Russian-affiliated sources.

An investigation by the Telegraph, published on August 3, concurred with the Logically investigation but also highlighted how the website may utilize AI in its content creation, stating: “Some of the articles published on Channel3 Now appear to be pulled from mainstream news sites” and others “repackaged using AI.” The investigation also noted that bot accounts may have amplified the original false name shared by Channel3NOW due to a high number of impressions on the X post. 

Next steps

Although the Channel3 NOW website quickly shifted its focus to cover other stories, the aftermath of the initial misinformation shared by the 'news outlet' continues as waves of violent unrest and riots continue across the U.K. However, the spread of misinformation has not gone unnoticed as reports say the Home Office is investigating the origin of the online posts that fuelled the Southport riots. 

The Home Office declined to confirm any details about any investigation but referred Logically Facts to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s public comments yesterday on Sky News. She said, "There is an issue of the misinformation that has been put out online as well as those inciting violence. I think there will be some action taken against those individuals as well as making sure that social media companies are held responsible."