Is Burnham right to blame Russia for spreading online disinformation?
By Shayan Sardarizadeh and Adam Durbin, BBC Verify
After Prime Minister Andy Burnham put Russia-linked disinformation campaigns under the spotlight
BBC Verify explores how these attempts to influence people's opinions work. We have tracked and debunked numerous online disinformation campaigns produced by Russia-linked groups targeting issues like the war with Ukraine, US and German elections, social cohesion, and institutional trust.
What kind of disinformation is being spread?
In his UN speech, Burnham highlighted an "insidious campaign" by the Russian government targeting people in the UK. Last year, fake videos featuring British public sector workers emerged, including a 999 call operator named Aaron whose voice was cloned using AI to create a video about the 2025 Polish presidential election.
These videos are part of the Matryoshka disinformation campaign, where AI is used to generate thousands of fake videos daily impersonating journalists and news organizations like the BBC to push pro-Russian narratives on Ukraine and Western countries. Aaron's case shows ordinary British citizens could also be targeted.
Disinformation shifts ahead of US midterm elections
In the lead-up to the 2024 US presidential election, BBC Verify reported a shift from Ukrainian-focused disinformation to fabricated videos about the US election. Similar misleading videos are already appearing ahead of November's midterms.
We previously exposed a large-scale operation run by a former US police officer in Russia, using AI to create hundreds of fake local news websites worldwide to disseminate completely made-up stories. One such site, the London Crier, falsely claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bought a mansion from King Charles at a bargain price, shared by an official Russian embassy account.
We also uncovered a bogus TikTok operation posting misleading videos in multiple languages about the war in Ukraine, accumulating millions of views and targeting users in several European countries. TikTok removed over 12,000 fake accounts involved, attributing their origins to Russia.