Sir Sadiq Khan has accused social media giants of tarnishing London’s reputation by allowing a “dark blizzard of disinformation” to spread on their platforms.
The Mayor of London has claimed that sites such as X, Facebook and Instagram are fuelling lies about the capital online, specifically when it comes to crime and racial segregation.
Such disinformation is damaging the capital’s standing as “one of the most successful multicultural societies on Earth”, he told the Cambridge Disinformation Summit on Thursday.
“Disinformation has become an industry: an ‘outrage economy’ organised around a ‘division dividend’ which allows people to profit from poison,” he said. “And today, the captains of the ‘outrage economy’ have London in their sights.”
His comments coincided with the release of a report by the Greater London Authority (GLA) which revealed a surge in social media posts containing falsehoods about London.
It found that “London in decline” content rose by up to 200pc in the past two years on social media, while posts about the capital in general grew by 7pc.
This was based on data from social media platforms such as X, Facebook and Instagram, as well as less popular apps such as Telegram and Russian social network VK.
Many of the posts were made by accounts aligned with the extreme Right, the Kremlin and Donald Trump’s Maga movement in the US, the report said.
It warned that London was increasingly being targeted by false or misleading narratives about knife crime, migration and violence against women.
Push for government action
Sir Sadiq has urged ministers to take much stronger action against social media sites to tackle the flood of disinformation online.
He even warned that inaction could fuel domestic terrorism by people swept up in online conspiracy theories.
“If platforms fail to act, the state must have the tools to make them,” he said. “That’s why I’ll continue lobbying the Government publicly and privately to take a much tougher approach.”
The Mayor added: “We need a new central body with the agility and authority to protect our democracy from disinformation and deal with the scale and speed of this crisis.
“And we need more aggressive enforcement of the rules we already have. Because unless regulators like Ofcom have the power to hit companies where it hurts, they’ll keep on getting away with it.”
The GLA’s report has been published against the backdrop of a growing row over London’s reputation, with many critics highlighting a surge in petty crime such as phone theft and shoplifting.
However, Sir Sadiq has repeatedly defended the capital’s reputation by claiming murders in the city have fallen to an 11-year low despite an increase in its population.
Marks & Spencer recently weighed into the debate by accusing the Mayor of being soft on crime, warning that lawlessness was putting the public at risk.
The Mayor should “prioritise effective policing”, the retail giant said, just days after one of its stores was overrun by a gang of youths.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, told The Financial Times that it “constantly” strives to disrupt “co-ordinated behaviour” on its sites.
“We are reviewing the research and are in touch directly with the Mayor’s office,” it added.
Telegram said: “Calls to violence are forbidden and are removed whenever discovered.”