To feel very uneasy at the latest 'conspiracy?' theory doing the rounds on social media?

[Cringingbutnamechanging]

I keep seeing different versions of the same thing, people saying that there are 'isis sleeper cells' hiding among migrants and there are plans to target children/schools in a terror attack.

I rolled my eyes to begin with thinking it's all scare mongering or it could be some idiots trying to drum up support for 'Reform'

However, there's a sizable amount of people vowing to keep their children off school and not send them back in September on account of these rumours. That's what got my attention.

Am I being unreasonable/ridiculous to feel unnerved by all of this talk? Do you think there's any truth in it?

I've name changed incase I'm being ridiculous 😩

Please be kind, I have PND so I'm easy to scare I guess and would like some perspective from the level headed folks on mumsnet.

I thought the same about it being some type of anti immigration scare mongering, that seemed the most likely explanation. After reading the comments and seeing how many people were vowing to keep their DC off school, that's what got my attention.

Thank you for the perspective, that's what I posted for. I'm not trying to spread misinformation, quite the opposite, I was hoping for reasons why it isn't true and reassurance.

I should have known better on AIBU 😬

I don’t get involved with social media and so haven’t seen these scare stores, however I am not unrealistic. Due to the sheer numbers of unknown people being allowed into the country it is statistically very likely that this is happening.

It's designed to scare people into hating all immigrants.

It’s very reminiscent of the anti German propaganda of the First World War - rumours of thousands German spies already landed and working on the south coast as barbers etc. It led to people and businesses with German sounding names being attacked. Quite often these people were Jewish.

Yeah this is why I name changed as I think I knew some would think I'm being ridiculous, and I think I probably am, I'm just quite anxious at the moment and I guess a bit vulnerable to scare mongering.

It makes me uneasy too - that racists are causing distress to vulnerable people by starting such rumours, knowing that they will be spread by both fellow racists and the vulnerable people themselves and the danger this poses to not just refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, but to all people who are of different ethnicities/faiths or could be perceived to be.

The pretending to be a normal, worried, concerned 'I'm not a racialist [sic], but...' posts are also worrying. Not just because they exist in the first place, but because not everybody recognises them as such.

But it's been at least 6 hours since the last racist thread started on Mumsnet, so we're probably overdue another one by now.

I didn’t catch the ‘hiding among migrants’ part of your OP.

I don’t know about that - but I do think sleeper cells here are a real thing.

The part about sleeper cells about to launch an attack.

I haven't seen the specific conspiracy theories but there are probably all sorts of dodgy people on those boats, like the 8 Iranian terrorists arrested earlier this year who I think came in on boats/lorries and claimed asylum. Not to mention all the rapists.....

It's posts like these that make teens beat up a six year old Indian girl which happened this week, because migrants are dirty. Faux wide eyed " Should I be scared of the brown man". Nope, I won't be kind.

I dont know anyone keeping their kids out of school.

I highly doubt that had anything to do with an anxious mum with PND asking for reassurance about social media scaremongering. How dare you? What a horrible thing to say.

Well obviously I would prefer if you were right! But I do think something like this will happen.

Oh I abolutely stand by it. Posts tarring 'migrants' - lovely catch all phrase- as terrorists are racist.
Do report me

The algorithm on Facebook, X etc is designed to play back to you messages that you've shown interest in. So if you've engaged with / read / commented on posts about migrants / the boats / migrant hotels / concerns about the NHS being overwhelmed then you'll start to be fed more and more of them, so you interact with more and more of them, and it's a self fulfilling circle. The algorithms are also designed to promote negativity over positivity because negativity is more sticky, ie it generates more comments and reactions than nice stories.

Get off social media and / or actively change what you show interest in. This includes everything you read online, you don't have to comment or react for the algorithm to 'note' your interest and prioritise / play back similar themes to you.

Let's be realistic, if there were cells in the UK planning attacks the last place they'd be talking about it is on social media, where rumours spread like wildfire and they'd soon be tracked down. Be kind to yourself and get off social media.

I'm not going to report you as you're entitled to your opinion but I stand by it being an awful one.

I'm relaying what I'm reading and seeing, I personally have nothing against migrants.

Read better stuff then.

Thank you for this. I'm going to be staying away from social media for a while.

I suggest you do the same, you're on my thread.

Nope, for the last two weeks MN has been absolutely awash with racist rumour spreading threads. I ignored them but now I report and call out.

I’ve seen this shared a couple of times. I’m a massive worrier and an over thinker but I know this is just something that’s been made up by racists.

I'm always wary of these threads- is it people wanting a racist pile on, or people, who see racism round every corner, wanting to prove that MN allows racist posts. Either way, I'm not playing the game. 👋

Yeah you're biased. I'm not racist or inciting racism.

I will bow out now and wait for MN to delete the thread as some people are hell bent on rewriting my intentions.

Thank you those of you who have posted kindly.

People need to use their interrligence and take responsibility for believing what they want to believe, the word vulnerable seems to be used as a get out jail of thinking card

If people are intelligent enough to take some information in why do they take the the racist trouble making information and not actual legitimate facts

People cant keep on blaming others because they cant decide what is make beleive and what is truth, and these people are raising the next generation?

Parents need to take some responsibility for how thry teachers their children to think, we cant blame everyone else

There's always a risk that terrorists may target children or schools in attacks. Terrorists want to spread terror, panic, cause distress to the maximum number of people or attack targets that will get a lot of attention. Significant public buildings - Parliament, Buckingham Palace, popular tourist attractions with lots of people. Big sporting music or cultural events. Crowds. Children and schools. If you're looking for a "soft target" and not to get shot by armed police within ten seconds then you're not likely to go for the likes of a central London public building or the bus parade for the Lionesses. There are tens of thousands of schools and nurseries...

But - schools and nurseries have security, you can't just walk into a school building with a knife and start stabbing people. Thankfully it's still hard to get guns in this country. And schools do practice lockdown procedures. Short of stationing armed police at every school like they do in some parts of America (and look where that gets them) you can't do much more. Every person who dies in a terror attack is one too many, but your kids are more likely to be in a car accident driving to school.