‘Bots, crypto and dark money – countering the modern agents provocateurs’

Philip Rycroft’s Independent Review on Countering Foreign Financial Influence and Interference in UK Politics was published this week. Media coverage of the report was largely confined to the Government’s subsequent decision to ban crypto donations and to limit ‘funding without taxation’ by capping donations from Brits living abroad.

These moves, while welcome, will deal with only some of the challenges raised by the growing and disturbing evidence of foreign interference in the UK. The review was prompted by the shocking case of the corrupt and traitorous Reform politician Nathan Gill. But Gill’s case has gone alongside Russian-sponsored campaigns to foment Islamophobic attacks in the UK, and the sabotage of goods destined for Ukraine. 

It has also coincided with Elon Musk’s trumpeting to his millions of followers that ‘civil war’ was ‘inevitable’ in the UK, and his backing for Rupert Lowe’s ‘Restore’ – the only UK party to ever have achieved Parliamentary representation while openly accepting avowed ‘Nazis’ as activists. 

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Moldova, a country of two and a half million people which sits between Romania and Ukraine, can feel far away from here – but Rycroft was right to mention its example as relevant for our country in his report. I was privileged to recently visit Moldova (which hosts more Ukrainian refugees per capita than any other country) as part of a cross-party delegation. 

At the last elections, Moldova faced a combination of real world threats including bomb scares aimed at suppressing voting; a cyber attack on its elections regulator; and online disinformation and bribery schemes operated via Telegram. Under constant threat of Russian aggression, the Moldovan government acted decisively to combat this disinformation and corruption, including with support from the UK government on its ‘strategic communications’. 

There is an instructive contrast with Romania, where I also spoke with politicians, regulators and NGOs. During the last Romanian presidential elections the ultranationalist conspiracist candidate Călin Georgescu was boosted by armies of Russian bots on TikTok, leading to the controversial annulment of the Presidential election due to foreign interference.  

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This is not, however, a phenomenon confined to countries geographically close to Ukraine. Both France and Germany have also experienced Russian-sponsored attempts, albeit at lesser intensity, to spread disruption, division and alarm. 

The Government has rightly said it accepts Rycroft’s report, and will respond in full when it can. It must recognise, however, the urgency of the moment. Hope not Hate’s recent report underlining the growth of racial hate in the UK was subtitled ‘it could happen here’. To borrow their phrase, foreign interference not only ‘could’ happen here – it’s already happening here. 

As well as the measures adopted by the Government this week, Rycroft also calls for a range of measures to block the bots – not least by banning foreign political advertising; making personalised advertising more transparent; improving accountability in government for dealing with foreign interference; and ending the gap in transparency outside the so-called ‘regulated’ election period. He also noted the speed with which foreign-sponsored disinformation can spread, suggesting that government should plan – transparently, and in good time- how it would deal with this kind of an ‘information emergency’. And he opened up the broader question of big money in UK politics, albeit stating it was beyond the scope of his report. He is right to point to public concern, given recent polls suggesting very strong public support for tightening up the system. 

After the drama of the release of the Rycroft review on Wednesday, the focus of the UK commentariat on foreign interference will likely wane. One thing is for sure, however – the bot army will keep marching, unless we take the threat of foreign interference in our democracy far more seriously. 

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