What the “Direct Action” Case Study Reveals
A new research briefing by Tell MAMA exposes how anti-Muslim hate in the UK is no longer solely home-grown, but increasingly shaped by foreign influence, online extremism, and the misuse of artificial intelligence. The report documents how a short-lived but highly dangerous far-right network — operating primarily on Telegram and amplified through X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and YouTube — actively encouraged attacks on mosques, Muslim communities, and the police.
This case study shows how online hate translates into real-world harm, how AI is being weaponised, and how foreign actors can exploit moments of national trauma to incite violence inside the UK.
From Online Propaganda to Real-World Targeting
The report centres on an extremist network known as “Direct Action”, which emerged in the aftermath of the Southport murders and stabbings. The group deliberately sought to hijack public grief and social tension, reframing tragedy as justification for racist violence. Using Telegram as its core platform, the network led to encouragement of the vandalism of mosques, whilst it also offered incentives in cryptocurrency so that the flows of money could not be tracked. This incentivisation marked a new low in the targeting of mosques and Islamic institutions.
Direct Action also shared terror manuals and circulated bomb-making instructions, as well as guidance on the use of weapons. The aim of this was to direct the possibility of arson attacks against Muslims and thereby the intimidation and harassment of Muslim communities in the real world.
Anti-Muslim Hate as a Strategic Target
A central finding of the report is the systematic targeting of Muslims and Islamic institutions. Analysis of hundreds of posts by our in-house researchers marked out the repeated references to mosques, Islams, Muslims and migration, as well as anti-Muslim tropes like the ‘Great Replacement Theory’ and the ‘Demographic Time Bomb of Muslims in Europe’. There were also calls to make things difficult in the social space for British Muslims. The report also highlights how Direct Action framed mosques as not just being places of worship, but places that needed to be targeted.
Clear Foreign Influence
One of the most alarming aspects of the case study is the strong indication of foreign ideological and technical influence. Our researchers found out that there were fingerprints of Russian hacktivists and logos from defunct Russian extremist Telegram channels that were evident in the fomenting of violence against mosques and Muslims. Language errors also pointed to people who were based overseas and non-native English speakers and we also picked up references to extremist manuals that were sourced from abroad.
Our report also highlights AI-generated images that falsely depict Muslims as violent and visuals that have been created using AI tools that promote false narratives of burning police cars and mosques. The aim of these AI assets is to mobilise anger and emotional hatred, whilst then seeking to mobilise this emotional impact into real world physical impacts on the streets of the United Kingdom.
By launching this report, our in-house research team are highlighting the risk that foreign actors are fomenting on our streets in the United Kingdom. This is not only a security issue — it is a human one.
Read the Report HERE.
Read More: Thirty Reports of Mosques Targeted Across the U.K. Between June and the 30th of October 2025