Overview
- At the United Nations on Wednesday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham ordered security chiefs to begin building a National Centre for Information Defence to tackle hostile information operations.
- The centre will be run from the Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet and will work with intelligence agencies, police, government departments and social media companies.
- Burnham accused Russian agencies of using bots, fake websites, falsified articles and forged branding of 28 British organisations, said the Kremlin spends about £1.3 billion a year on information manipulation, and warned AI will increase the threat.
- Right-leaning commentators labelled the plan censorship and compared it to a 'Ministry of Truth,' and some warned the initiative could widen diplomatic friction with the United States.
- The announcement builds on existing measures such as the Online Safety Act and national resilience programmes, and the centre is now at an initial implementation stage where legal limits and civil liberties debates will shape how it operates.