How much does online misinformation affect social workers?

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Readers’ Take is a weekly series by Community Care that showcases your opinions on trending topics. To take part, vote in our weekly poll and share your thoughts in the comments section of the related article. You can read previous articles from this series here.

Most social workers are affected by online misinformation in some way, a Community Care poll has found.

The poll was triggered by the role of misinformation and disinformation in sparking the racist riots that spread across the country in early August 2024 and included the reported targeting of social care workers based on their race or religion.

The far-right riots were preceded by disturbances in Leeds, where social workers were directly put at risk on a visit to a family to carry out a court order to remove their children. In this case, the sharing of online footage of the police removing a child appeared to have played a role in sparking the disorder.

While negative and inaccurate media coverage of social work is nothing new, social media has significantly increased the volume of misinformation about the profession and its ability to spread at speed, without the reporting standards generally observed by journalists.

For example, though online groups for parents involved in care proceedings or who have had children removed are a valuable source of mutual support and information, they can also provide opportunity and encouragement to name and shame practitioners, putting them at risk.

A Community Care poll amassing 660 votes asked practitioners whether their practice and wellbeing had been affected by the spread of online misinformation.

The majority of respondents (58%) said it had impacted on them very much (36%) or somewhat (22%).

However, nearly one-third (31%) said they hadn’t been affected at all, while 11% said online misinformation had had very little impact on their practice or wellbeing.

How does online misinformation about social work affect you?