UK on frontline of new information war as Russia floods social media with fake videos

In a speech in London, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will sound the alarm over hostile actors flooding social media with doctored videos to undermine support for Ukraine

The UK is on the frontline of a new information war as hostile states deploy disinformation, interference and cyber threats, the Foreign Secretary warns today.

In a speech in London, Yvette Cooper will sound the alarm over malign actors flooding social media with doctored videos to undermine support for Ukraine as well as meddling in elections. Advances in technology have allowed hackers and disrupters to work for hostile regimes amid an escalation in hybrid threats, she will say.

Ms Cooper will also warn that foreign states must be prevented from wading into debates in the UK on issues like migration, gender and climate to sow division.

She was expected to say: “Across Europe we are witnessing an escalation in hybrid threats – from physical through to cyber – designed to weaken critical national infrastructure, undermine our interests and interfere in our democracies all for the advantage of malign foreign states.”

READ MORE: Britain ready to hunt Russian submarines under major multi-million pound planREAD MORE: Yvette Cooper vows to take on ‘dirty money’ funding crime in UK and war in Ukraine

The Foreign Secretary will unveil new measures to expose and disrupt threats against the UK in a speech to mark the anniversary of the post World War One Locarno Treaties.

She will say: “A hundred years ago, such malign actors or state sponsored disrupters, may have relied on expertly forged documents or carefully planted stories to manipulate public opinion, but today’s technology is lowering the barrier to entry – meaning more actors, with less skill, can work on behalf of regimes abroad…They can interfere with free and fair elections, so that Western interests are weakened and lose allies on the global stage.”

Recent elections in Moldova saw the emergence of fake websites and adverts with false and unpopular policies – including hiking the retirement age and lengthening military service.

Fake videos about President Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska have also been pumped out through fake news sites in African countries in an attempt to undermine support for Ukraine.

And Russian agencies have sought to flood social media in the UK with counterfeit documents and deepfake material in English, German, and French.

Ms Cooper will say: “By flooding social media with generative AI and manipulated videos, they can gradually undermine support for our major allies like Ukraine with lies – hitting our collective resolve to support Ukraine’s resistance to Russia ’s illegal invasion.”

On the situation in the UK, she will add: “This isn’t about legitimate debate on contentious issues. Plenty of people in the UK have strong views on migration, gender and climate.

“But they are our debates to have – not those for foreign states to use as their playground, trying to sow division to advance their own interests.”