UK unit to counter Russian disinformation defended by Wes Streeting

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has dismissed claims that a new UK unit targeting Russian online disinformation will suppress free speech, insisting it is aimed at hostile state threats of a different magnitude. He said the government is not interested in policing domestic political dissent. The unit, announced by the Prime Minister at the UN, addresses an "industrial-scale assault" by Russia, which allegedly spends £1.3 billion annually on bots, fake websites, and deepfakes. Streeting cited AI's role in making fact and fiction harder to distinguish, referencing a fake audio clip of himself. Nigel Farage criticized the move as a crackdown on free speech, but Streeting defended the initiative as protecting democracy. Dame Emily Thornberry welcomed the unit, expressing concern over previous complacency towards foreign disinformation.