Security chiefs will set up a new national centre to tackle disinformation and deepfakes from hostile states such as Russia, Andy Burnham has announced, saying the government had a duty to “stem the poisonous tide” from damaging British interests. The National Centre for Information Defence will “detect, attribute and disrupt” information attacks by foreign powers, many of which are enabled by AI, bringing together the intelligence agencies, law enforcement and social media companies. It will be tasked with making sure the UK has the defensive capability necessary to combat information warfare and build national resilience by helping communities to identify and combat disinformation, preventing a “distorted and untrue” narrative about the UK.
Burnham said the country would have to go into the next decade “eyes wide open” about “insidious” campaigns, many of which had been orchestrated by Russia, which “twisted” what people at home felt about their own country and community. In eye-catching remarks, the prime minister suggested that Britons who were struggling with the cost of living and young people not in education, training or employment may be particularly susceptible to foreign influence online, underlining how inequality further undermined society. In his speech to the UN in New York on Tuesday night, Burnham said: “We’re talking about an insidious campaign that reaches into people’s homes and twists what they feel about their own country and community – creating a narrative of decline, stoking division and sowing despair.
We know that AI will multiply the threat. We have tiptoed around this for too long. Over the last decade we have given too much ground to those who want to run a negative, corrosive narrative about life in Britain, which bears no resemblance to reality.
We are going to be much prouder in standing up for our values and the rule of law. And we are going to help our people to strengthen their resilience – because, faced with this information warfare, security starts in every home.” Burnham’s speech came after Donald Trump – during a press conference at the UN with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy – said that Keir Starmer’s rhetoric had been “too tough” towards Moscow and that London “needs to be a little bit careful”. Downing Street pushed back on the US president’s remarks, saying that every UK prime minister – up to and including Burnham – had been consistent in the view that Russia’s threats, whether hybrid attacks or rhetoric, were “egregious and unacceptable”.
In his speech, Burnham singled out Russia, saying the Kremlin spent around £1.3bn each year on manipulating information. They’ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles,” he said.
They’ve amplified far-right narratives. And we have evidence that they tried to interfere with the 2019 general election. The idea that anyone would try to use such things to their advantage is just repulsive – but it is what they do.” The prime minister suggested that certain groups of people who felt their own lives were not improving may be more vulnerable to disinformation and deepfakes.
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