Anti-immigration AI videos traced to overseas fakers, BBC finds

Prof. Sander van der Linden of the University of Cambridge describes the development as a 'disinformation-for-hire industry' with paid actors and influencers using AI content and bots to drive traffic. Prof. Yvonne McDermott Rees of Queen's University Belfast notes that public accuracy in spotting fakes is about 55%, and that people often overestimate their ability to detect AI content. City Hall warns that the more AI content people see, the harder it becomes to distinguish fact from fiction.

BBC reporters note that some people running similar accounts are based in the UK, including a West Midlands operator who says they coordinate with other accounts to push the same political goal. The article states that cross-promoting or engaging with the 2050 viewpoints involves accounts based in India, Pakistan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. The 'Britain Today' page is described as based in Sri Lanka, per Meta's transparency tools.

The BBC speaks to people behind multiple accounts linked to the 2050 'point-of-view' videos and other anti-immigration content. They describe themselves as located far from the cities they portray and say they operate out of a European country with rising insecurity. They claim not to monetise their content and say they are in contact with various politicians, though they refuse to name them. Some accounts coordinate with others to push similar political goals through group chats and cross-promotion.

Meta states it takes coordinated inauthentic behaviour seriously and will act on content or accounts that violate its Community Standards, regardless of whether created by AI or a person. City Hall also calls for social media companies to adjust algorithms to stop rewarding poison and division and to label AI content clearly.

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan says he has commissioned research into AI-generated images showing the capital in decline, which he argues harms London’s reputation abroad. He notes some accounts are motivated by money, while others are backed by hostile states such as Russia and Iran. City Hall’s research identifies a sharp rise in such posts over the past two years and identifies two main motives: monetising division and influencing public opinion, with potential harm to visitors, students and investors.

The BBC reports that the 'Great British People' Facebook page purports to be from Yorkshire but is operated by someone based in Sri Lanka. The latest video features an elderly white British man crying about his pension and has about 1.3 million views. Other videos show reporters discussing the scale of mass immigration and asking viewers if they miss 'the Britain we used to know'. Information from Facebook's transparency tools, interviews with creators, and other signs indicate that some content comes from Sri Lanka, the US, elsewhere in Europe, as well as Vietnam and the Maldives, with links to Iran and the UAE.