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 \u201cstem the poisonous tide\u201d from damaging British interests.<\/p>\n
The National Centre for Information Defence will \u201cdetect, attribute and disrupt\u201d information attacks by foreign powers, many of which are enabled by AI<\/a>, bringing together the intelligence agencies, law enforcement and social media companies.<\/p>\n It will be tasked with making sure the UK has the defensive capability necessary to combat information warfare<\/a> and build national resilience by helping communities to identify and combat disinformation, preventing a \u201cdistorted and untrue\u201d narrative about the UK.<\/p>\n Burnham said the country would have to go into the next decade \u201ceyes wide open\u201d about \u201cinsidious\u201d campaigns, many of which had been orchestrated by Russia, which \u201ctwisted\u201d what people at home felt about their own country and community.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In his speech to the UN in New York on Tuesday night, Burnham said: \u201cWe\u2019re talking about an insidious campaign that reaches into people\u2019s homes and twists what they feel about their own country and community \u2013 creating a narrative of decline, stoking division and sowing despair.<\/p>\n \u201cOn top of that, we have seen cyber-attacks on our companies and institutions<\/a>. 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. Well, no more.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to face the new decade in a different way \u2013 with our eyes wide open. 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 \u2013 because, faced with this information warfare, security starts in every home.\u201d<\/p>\n Burnham\u2019s speech came after Donald Trump \u2013 during a press conference at the UN with Ukraine\u2019s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy \u2013 said that Keir Starmer\u2019s rhetoric had been \u201ctoo tough\u201d towards Moscow<\/a> and that London \u201cneeds to be a little bit careful\u201d.<\/p>\n Downing Street pushed back on the US president\u2019s remarks, saying that every UK prime minister \u2013 up to and including Burnham \u2013 had been consistent in the view that Russia\u2019s threats, whether hybrid attacks or rhetoric, were \u201cegregious and unacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe UK is united with our allies on the importance of defending ourselves, and Russia\u2019s aggression will not deter us from supporting Ukraine,\u201d the prime minister\u2019s official spokesperson added.<\/p>\n Downing Street pushed back on comments by Donald Trump, who met Andy Burnham on Tuesday, that previous UK government rhetoric had been \u2018too tough\u2019 towards Moscow. Photograph: Toby Melville\/Pool Reuters\/AP<\/p>\n In his speech, Burnham singled out Russia, saying the Kremlin spent around \u00a31.3bn each year on manipulating information.<\/p>\n \u201cRussian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people\u2019s fears. They\u2019ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n