Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has rejected claims that a new UK unit to combat Russian information warfare would be used to crack down on free speech.
Streeting said security chiefs had been ordered to intervene to grapple with threats from hostile states “of a different order of magnitude” to previous propaganda efforts.
Unit to tackle 'industrial-scale assault'
The Prime Minister told the United Nations that he was setting up the unit to tackle an “industrial-scale assault” on Britain by Russia and other hostile powers through online lies and deepfakes.
He accused the Kremlin of spending £1.3 billion a year to spread lies through bots, fake websites and false newspaper articles.
Streeting hits back at free speech concerns
Nigel Farage seized on the move to accuse the Government of trying to crack down on free speech in the UK.
But Streeting responded: “We’re not interested in policing domestic political dissent. One of the great things about Britain, and one of the things that I have a responsibility to defend, is the freedom and democracy that we all enjoy.”
Pressed on why the unit was needed now, the Defence Secretary said: “Because the level of threat we face and the way in which those risks materialise are of a different order of magnitude than the historic challenges of propaganda that have existed over many decades and many conflicts.”
AI makes fact and fiction harder to separate
Streeting warned that separating fact from fiction was becoming extremely challenging due to the spread of AI. He said a false audio clip of him using foul language about Gaza spread on social media ahead of the 2024 general election.
“Come the next general election, it will be hard to discern the real versions of politicians and BBC presenters from the artificial versions,” he said.
In his speech to the UN on Tuesday night, the Prime Minister condemned Moscow for attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. He said: “Everyone in this room knows that strikes on civilian infrastructure are explicitly forbidden by international law.”
Dame Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said she was “absolutely delighted” by the new unit, which her panel had called for.
“We were extremely worried about what seemed to be a complacency of the British establishment at the disinformation being promoted from abroad, particularly from Russia,” she said, adding the centre would take on the “very serious threat” posed by Moscow’s online lies.
