Burnham unveils UK centre to counter Russian disinformation

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a new national centre to combat Russian disinformation and deepfakes in his first address to the UN General Assembly.

• Burnham announced the National Centre for Information Defence, uniting intelligence agencies, law enforcement and social media companies.
• Burnham stated Russia spends about £1.3bn annually on information manipulation and forged the branding of 28 British organisations.
• Trump said Starmer's rhetoric toward Russia had been "too tough", adding that London "needs to be a little bit careful".
• Downing Street said Russian threats, whether hybrid or rhetorical, were "egregious and unacceptable" and would not deter UK support for Ukraine.
• Burnham positioned the UK as an 'honest broker' on global AI safety standards, pledging to put AI at the heart of the UK's G20 presidency next year.
• Burnham accused Moscow of using bots and fake websites in an information campaign that AI would multiply, referencing Russian interference in the UK's 2019 election.
• Russia declined immediate comment, having previously dismissed such claims as 'Russophobia'.
• The Kremlin called Burnham's accusations of Russian interference in the 2019 UK election and cyberattacks 'inflammatory' and unhelpful to de-escalation in Europe.
• BBC Verify cited an AI-cloned video of a UK 999 call operator and a TikTok operation whose 12,000 accounts were removed as Russia-linked campaigns.