"Counter-extremism expert Ian Acheson agrees. "I don't think they could conceivably have arrived at that conclusion on the basis of the evidence," he said. "I think the comms decision was 'let's say as little as possible and let's try to dampen down community feeling by saying, 'no, there's nothing to see here',' which of course then created a narrative that was exploited by misinformation and disinformation.""