London mayor Sadiq Khan warns of 'blizzard of disinformation', takes aim at social media firms

London's mayor Sadiq Khan has warned of the dangers of online disinformation and called for tougher action against social media platforms, after a rise in accounts painting the city as unsafe or in decline, multiple UK media outlets reported on Thursday (Apr 9).

Khan said the city is facing a "dark blizzard of disinformation", while speaking at a disinformation summit in Cambridge, where he cited a recent study by the Greater London Authority (GLA) showing a surge in online falsehoods being posted about London, including crime rates, racial integration, and policing and protest activity.

The study found “clear signs” of coordinated and inauthentic activity driving disinformation and misinformation in London over the past two years, including the use of AI-generated content to produce and amplify misleading or unverified claims.

The research identified a range of platforms and actors that appear to be involved, both within the UK and internationally, including accounts linked to extreme right-wing groups, those aligned with Russian or Chinese state interests and US-related political movements.

It also found some cases where accounts pretended to be legitimate local news sources.

Khan called on UK lawmakers to take stronger action against social media companies, according to the BBC and The Financial Times.

The mayor also said platforms should act to tackle falsehoods, including fake AI content, and that, if they fail to do so, the state should intervene. He added that "disinformation has become an industry - an ‘outrage economy’ organised around a 'division dividend' which allows people to profit from poison," FT reported.

The BBC quoted Khan as saying: "If platforms fail to act, the state must have the tools to make them. That's why I'll continue lobbying the government publicly to take a much tougher approach."

He urged the creation of a new regulatory body to tackle online disinformation, The Guardian reported, adding that the public is "right to expect big tech to do better, but we should not rely on it", and that the UK needs "more aggressive enforcement" of existing rules.

Khan added: "Because unless regulators like Ofcom have the power to hit companies where it hurts, they will keep getting away with it."

According to FT and the BBC, Khan has sent letters to social media firms, including YouTube, Meta, Snapchat and TikTok, asking them to provide specific accounts of the actions they are taking to tackle "inauthentic behaviour" on their platforms.

Meta told those media outlets it is "constantly working" to "disrupt coordinated and inauthentic behaviour", adding that the company has removed more than 200 networks globally and does not allow fake accounts or the boosting of content.

Khan also insisted he was not seeking to suppress free speech during his Cambridge address.

The Guardian quoted him as saying: "To anyone who cynically seeks to delay, deflect or deny by turning this crisis into a debate about our unfettered freedom to post, I say this: tell that charity staff being threatened by strangers at their door after being doxed online, or the parents struggling to reach their children as they're dragged ever deeper into the darkest corners of the internet."