The report included remarks by the Assistant Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) highlighting that there had been significant coordination from online social media activity and calling for it to stop.  As that was the view of the PSNI the ECU considered it was editorially justified to include it in the programme.  However, it did not agree viewers would have been left with the impression that the causes of the violence rested entirely with social media posting.  BBC News had covered the events in Belfast over a number of days, concentrating initially on the violent attack by a migrant, which led eventually to the rioting, and raising questions about immigration and security. In the ECU’s view there was no particular reason why it should have returned on this occasion to the underlying causes of the disorder, with the focus now on the continuing rioting and the communities where it was occurring.

Not Upheld