Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently announced the creation of a National Centre for Information Defence that will disrupt disinformation campaigns by states hostile to the UK. The centre will bring together security services, police, tech firms and government departments.
But this new centre will have its work cut out. State-backed adversaries are supported by huge amounts of money – Russia alone has an estimated US$2.15 billion (£1.63 billion) annual budget for information manipulation. And China spends more, at an estimated US$10 billion (£7.6 billion). This is alongside AI-generated deepfakes and covert digital operations.
