Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that the UK will be ramping up its investment in defence to meet the challenges of “an increasingly volatile and complex world” through the launch of the 2023 Integrated Review Refresh. The Polis Analysis team is happy to see that –  as part of the investments into safeguarding the UK from outside forces –  disinformation is seriously being seen as a legitimate threat to the security and stability of our society. By providing the BBC World Service with 20 million pounds to fund its efforts to continue providing vital language services across 42 countries – some of which have been targeted by hostile states for disinformation – the UK government has shown that disinformation ought to be a priority on its agenda.

Polis’ has committed itself to change the direction of internet governance in the UK by calling for the upcoming Online Safety Bill to be amended and recognise the threat that disinformation poses. Efforts to eradicate all disinformation – whether online or not – are sadly never watertight. Hence, we remain convinced that the only way in which disinformation can be properly tackled, is not merely through government initiative, but equally through citizen education giving people from a young age the tools to critically assess the information they consume.

Media literacy therefore is the key to ensuring that both the cause and effect of disinformation and fake news are rooted out once and for all.