A senior Labour MP has issued a stark warning that British democracy is under sustained attack from coordinated online disinformation campaigns, including from foreign state actors and amplified by biased social media algorithms.
Foreign Interference and the Social Media Threat
Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the powerful foreign affairs select committee, stated that the United Kingdom is "constantly suffering from disinformation campaigns from both state and non-state actors." She emphasised that the risk posed to British democracy by bot farms and manipulated online content now requires immediate and decisive action.
Thornberry highlighted that false narratives about the UK are being promoted by figures including former US President Donald Trump and are increasingly echoed by some politicians within Britain itself. She argued it is now time to directly challenge major technology firms over "the threats that social media pose to our society."
In response, her committee has formally written to the owners of X, Meta, and TikTok, demanding they provide evidence on the specific threat of foreign disinformation targeting the UK. "We must start a proper dialogue with social media companies about the ways their platforms are being used to spread lies from abroad and undermine our democracy. And we need to do it urgently," Thornberry asserted.
False Narratives and Algorithmic Amplification
The MP singled out specific examples of disinformation taking root. She accused Reform UK politicians of repeating false claims about UK cities being crime-ridden, which are then amplified online. She noted that despite official data showing a fall in crime types including murder, Reform figures have persistently described London as dangerous.
Thornberry claimed that biased algorithms on social platforms actively promote "strife and far-right messages," and that some Reform politicians were "raking in tens of thousands of pounds from X" by rewarding content that sows anger and spreads falsehoods.
This warning is supported by data analysis. Research by Dr Mark J Hill of King’s College London found that Reddit posts claiming London is "dangerous" and "lawless" skyrocketed from 874 in 2008 to a staggering 258,444 in 2024. His analysis also uncovered evidence of new accounts using AI-generated profile pictures that post exclusively about crime in the capital.
"We are seeing lies that start in bot farms and are then disseminated on social media sites become statements of fact from the likes of the US president, and increasingly from politicians here at home," Thornberry said. "That’s so dangerous for our democracy."
Evidence of Coordinated Campaigns and Regulatory Gaps
The committee heard compelling evidence of specific foreign interference campaigns. It was revealed that bot accounts based in Iran had been attempting to foment support for Scottish independence, aiming to destabilise the UK. According to the disinformation detection firm Cyabra, around 1,300 fake profiles focused on influencing discourse on Scottish independence and Brexit went silent following internet shutdowns in Iran during anti-government protests.
This concern over foreign meddling led Prime Minister Keir Starmer to launch a formal investigation into foreign election interference in December, following the conviction of Reform's former leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, for accepting bribes to promote Russian interests.
Perhaps most alarmingly, the committee was told the UK currently lacks the legal tools to combat algorithmic bias. Vijay Rangarajan, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission, testified that if a social media company decided to algorithmically amplify or suppress political discourse, "they probably could." He warned: "I do not think anything in our current legislative toolkit would enable us … to take any action against that, and that really is a concern."
The evidence presented paints a picture of a democratic system vulnerable to a multi-pronged digital assault, combining foreign state operations, domestic political amplification, and unregulated platform algorithms, creating an urgent call for regulatory and diplomatic action.
