Regulator Warns Places of Worship on Divisive Language
Two mosques have been issued with Official Warnings by the charity regulator over their involvement in inflammatory and divisive communications.
The Charity Commission for England and Wales has criticised the Central Oxford Mosque Society and The Mosque and Islamic Centre of Brent , both of which failed to prevent their platforms being misused to communicate inappropriate material.
It was found that there was misconduct and / or mismanagement committed in connection with the charities.
Central Oxford Mosque Society
The Commission opened a case into the charity after concerns were raised about posts on the charity’s social media platform in October and November 2023.
The posts commented on the recent escalation of conflict in the Middle East. One provided information on what to do if arrested at a protest and advertised the services of a specific private solicitor’s firm. Another featured a graphic cartoon which seemed to criticise media reporting of the conflict. A third post included another cartoon suggesting the media misrepresents the situation in Palestine. Both cartoons were shared by the charity just three days after the attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The Commission considered that the sharing of these cartoons could create community tensions in the context of the conflict in the Middle East.
The regulator engaged with the trustees, who were unable to explain how the posts furthered the charity’s purposes for the public benefit. It found that, at the time of publishing the posts, the charity had no social media policy in place and that only one trustee had access to the social media account. The trustees’ responses to the Commission also failed to acknowledge or recognise all of the concerns about the posts in question.
The Commission concluded that the posts were outside the charity’s purposes, and that two were divisive and inflammatory.
The Official Warning sets out actions the charity is to take to address the wrongdoing, including to create, implement and adhere to robust policies, including a social media policy, and to ensure all of the charity’s activities are in furtherance of its purposes.
The regulator acknowledges that, since it gave the charity notice of its intention to issue an Official Warning, the charity’s trustees have taken steps to address the concerns.
The Mosque and Islamic Centre of Brent
The Commission opened a case after concerns were raised in the media about speeches held at the charity’s premises. The sermons were promoted on the speaker’s social media channel.
The Commission determined that of five speeches given at the charity’s premises in November and December 2023, four included inflammatory and divisive content, two contained content that could reasonably be interpreted as encouraging support of Hamas, a proscribed organisation, and one could be reasonably interpreted as discouraging worshippers from engaging with democratic processes.
The Commission found that, at the time of the speeches, the charity did not have effective policies in place to manage risks related to speakers at the charity. In response to the regulator’s concerns, the charity’s trustees did not demonstrate that that they fully understood the risk of reputational harm being caused by the sermon and were unable to offer adequate assurance that they would take action to prevent a similar failure in the future.
The Official Warning sets out steps the charity now needs to take to address the concerns.
The Commission notes that, since it gave the charity notice of its intention to issue an Official Warning, the charity has adopted a written policy on speakers.
Charity Commission Assistant Director for Investigations and Compliance, Stephen Roake said:
We recognise that recent events in the Middle East are emotive and distressing. But it is precisely in times of conflict that charities are expected to bring people together, not to stoke further division.
Trustees of charities have a legal duty and responsibility to ensure everything their charity does is capable of furthering its purposes, and must also take steps to protect the charity’s assets, including its reputation.
Sadly, in the case of these two charities, the trustees failed to have appropriate processes in place, and allowed their charity’s names and reputations to be exposed to serious harm through inflammatory and divisive language, and in one case, seeming to associate the charity with a proscribed organisation.
We expect the trustees to continue to take swift action to address the respective concerns.
During the last 18 months, the Commission has opened more than 300 regulatory cases involving charities supporting different sides of the Middle East conflict. It has issued formal statutory guidance to charities in around 100 of these cases, and has made more than 70 referrals to the police where it considers a criminal offence might have been committed.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/places-of-worship-warned-by-regulator-over-inflammatory-and-divisive-language