Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the UN that Russian agencies have forged the branding of universities as he launched a new unit to fight online disinformation.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September, Burnham said that Russian agencies had used bots, fake websites and falsified newspaper articles, whilst forging the branding of 28 British organisations, including universities and the BBC.
He said the Kremlin spends around £13b a year on manipulating information, accusing it of trying to “spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fears.”
Burnham has tasked security chiefs with setting up a National Centre for Information Defence, echoing a key recommendation of the Foreign Affairs Committee’s March report.
Russian campaigns have previously cloned trusted brands, most notably in the Doppelgänger operation, which the US Justice Department said aimed to undermine America’s relationships with its allies.
Edinburgh politics lecturer Alan Convery told The Student that universities are a target because they are “a world-class sector for the UK.”
One second-year student commented: “universities have a duty to teach students how to spot fake branding.”
Universities have been targeted before. In 2022, Euronews reported that Russian state TV falsely claimed Oxford was revoking the degrees of 10,000 Kremlin-linked students.
An AI-generated video about a fake ‘Croydon University’ gained over 12 million views on TikTok, Times Higher Education reported. Cambridge professor Sander van der Linden warned such content could deter students and urged universities to pre-bunk false claims.
The threat is especially worrying for universities already losing international students. Home Office figures show visa applications fell 11 per cent in the past year.
The University of Edinburgh already warns students about fraudulent emails sent in its name, but has not yet addressed foreign disinformation campaigns.
It remains unclear whether the burden to counter such attacks lies with students, targeted institutions, or the state.
Image by Mathias Reding via Unsplash
