Were Fears Of Disinformation During The Election Exaggerated?

Politicians were bracing themselves for a tidal wave of foreign-state disinformation in the run-up to the General Election.

But interference on such a scale has either gone unnoticed, or not yet happened. Has the UK catastrophised the disinformation threat? 

“I would say so yes,” says the Alan Turing Institute’s Sam Stockwell. “And certainly speaking to people in government, like at the NCSC [National Cyber Security Council], Cabinet Office and others, they seem to be echoing similar sentiments.”

There has been some disinformation: suspicious TikTok accounts appear to be pushing Reform UK content. In early June a video was shared on social media of Wes Streeting appearing to insult Diane Abbott on an episode of BBC Politics Live. A video of North Durham candidate Luke Akehurst was later shared on X, appearing to mock residents as “thick Geordie c***s”.  

The Russians generally don't create these situations; they then pour fuel on the fire when a situation exists

However, according to Martin Innes, whose team at Cardiff University have been closely scanning the media landscape for signs of interference, these are the only “relatively sophisticated” deepfakes he has seen in the election. “None of them have really had an impact," he says.  

Innes points to a growing distrust and cynicism among the public that may be rooting out disinformation more effectively. For example, a community note on the Akehurst deepfake flagged that the Labour candidate had been wearing a remembrance poppy – which did not tally with the date of his supposed comments. 

“My impression of where the public on social media is at the moment is: quite low trust and high cynicism,” he says. “It's not great for politics. But more generally in terms of defences