The suspected Russian propaganda operation has prompted calls by parliamentarians for a change in the law to force UK-registered news websites to reveal their ownership, as happens in the European Union.
While the sites, londoninsider.co.uk and talk-finance.co.uk, are in English and registered in the UK, their output has been picked up and disseminated in Ukraine, where the UK's media has a reputation for reliability.
The use of the sites has been highlighted by a US firm, Sarn, which is working in Ukraine in the energy and military hardware sectors. It said articles on the two sites had falsely accused it of arms trafficking, judicial fraud and embezzlement.
Content on the sites appears to be AI-generated, while an analysis by a linguist engaged by Sarn suggested that the original text had been created by a Russian speaker.
The name of a real UK journalist appeared as a byline, but he has said in an affidavit that he knew nothing about the story he supposedly wrote for londoninsider.co.uk.
This story is from the September 23, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the September 23, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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