Overseas operators are flooding social platforms with AI‑generated videos that depict Britain in ruin, prompting London’s mayor to launch a probe. Sir Sadiq Khan says the clips—showing the House of Commons under Sharia law or streets swamped with halal stalls—damage the city’s reputation abroad. Researchers warn viewers struggle to spot fakes, and exposure to such content erodes trust in genuine media.

BBC investigators traced several accounts to owners in India, Pakistan, Singapore and even the West Midlands, noting a pattern of repurposing pages from pro‑MAGA or “Make America Great Again” themes to anti‑immigration AI narratives. Some operators admit they chase clicks and ad revenue, while others appear linked to Russian or Iranian sympathies, a claim echoed by Cambridge social psychologist Prof. Sander van der Linden.

Meta says it monitors “co‑ordinated inauthentic behaviour” with global teams ready to remove violators, but critics argue platform algorithms still amplify divisive AI content. City Hall’s research links the surge to both state‑backed propaganda and profit‑driven actors, noting a measurable dip in overseas student applications. AI-generated videos are now a test case for how tech firms police synthetic media.