New UK anti-disinformation unit won't target political dissent, says defence secretary
UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed that the newly announced National Centre for Information Defence will target hostile foreign disinformation, not domestic critics of the government.
Labour's Andy Burnham announced at the United Nations the creation of a new National Centre for Information Defence, arguing that Britain has for too long allowed a negative and corrosive narrative about life in the country to take hold, one he said bears no resemblance to reality.
In his UN speech, Burnham focused his concerns on hostile state actors conducting disinformation warfare, singling out Russia in particular. He said the UK and its allies had faced an industrial-scale assault on the information environment in recent years, involving bots, fake websites and falsified newspaper articles. Russian agencies, he said, had forged the branding of 28 British organisations, including universities and the BBC, while amplifying far-right narratives. Burnham also cited evidence that Russia attempted to interfere with the UK's 2019 general election.
Defence secretary responds to censorship concerns
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting gave a series of broadcast interviews explaining the rationale behind the new centre, saying government needs to help the public separate fact from fiction, particularly as artificial intelligence makes it increasingly hard to distinguish real politicians and broadcasters from fabricated versions.
Asked whether the new unit could be used against Britons who simply disagree with the government, Streeting rejected the suggestion. He said the freedom to disagree, to challenge government policy and to criticise it robustly is a core part of the democracy he has a responsibility to defend, contrasting this with the position of ordinary Russians under their political system. He added that Russia is just one of several malign state and non-state actors seeking to threaten UK democracy through misinformation and disinformation, and stressed that the centre is not interested in policing domestic political dissent.
The announcement came the same day the Ministry of Defence revealed the Royal Air Force is launching what it describes as its first-ever space squadron, intended to help protect satellites.
