Yvette Cooper warned on Tuesday that foreign countries are flooding social media with AI-manipulated videos to undermine Western support for Ukraine.
Britain's foreign secretary will ask other countries to help fight what Britain calls “information warfare” as officials warn that Russia is using fake documents and deepfake material to advance its geopolitical goals.
The Foreign Office previously warned that Russian agencies were running a large disinformation network known as “doppelgängers”, spreading false rumors about the Princess of Wales' health and Western funding for Israel.
“Across Europe, we are witnessing an escalation in hybrid threats, from physical to cyber threats, aimed at the interests of malign foreign states and aimed at undermining critical national infrastructure, undermining our interests, and interfering with our democracies,” Cooper said.
The speech, which marks the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Locarno signed between Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Czechoslovakia after World War I, was delivered at one of the most sensitive moments in the war in Ukraine.
President Donald Trump is renewing his push for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and the two countries are fighting to shape thinking in Washington.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials have been stuck in talks for the past few days with no clear solution in sight, with President Trump accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of not reading the proposals on the table.
President Zelenskiy spent Monday in Downing Street, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened talks that also included French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Cooper was in Washington on Monday and met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In a statement clearly aimed at Moscow's direction, Cooper would say: “A hundred years ago, such malicious actors and state-sponsored disruptors may have relied on elaborately forged documents and carefully crafted stories to manipulate public opinion, but today's technology lowers the barriers to entry, meaning more actors can work on behalf of foreign regimes with fewer skills.”
“They could disrupt free and fair elections, thereby undermining Western interests and losing allies on the world stage. By flooding social media with generated AI and manipulated videos, they can slowly undermine support for key allies like Ukraine with lies and undermine our collective resolve to support Ukraine's resistance to Russia's illegal aggression.”
He will argue that disinformation is being used not only to directly weaken Ukraine, but also to exacerbate social divisions on issues such as gender and immigration.
“This is not a legitimate debate about controversial issues. There are many people in the UK who have strong views on immigration, gender and climate. But these are the debates we should have, not debates to be used as a playground by foreign countries seeking to sow division to further their own interests.”
Officials point to disinformation campaigns around the world, which they claim are carried out by hostile states.
These include the creation of a fake website during Moldova's general elections in September that appeared to belong to the PAS party and featured fabricated policies such as raising the retirement age and extending the length of military service.
