Stories
MI5 Chief Confirms Russian Interference Attempts During 2016 Brexit Vote
- •MI5 Director General Ken McCallum confirmed that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 Brexit referendum using media coverage and fake social media accounts.
- •State-backed outlets like RT and Sputnik promoted anti-EU and anti-migration messages ahead of the vote.
- •McCallum emphasized that while interference was attempted, there is no evidence that Russia successfully changed the final outcome of the referendum.
- •The confirmation follows claims by Prime Minister Andy Burnham that Moscow meddled in the historic vote.
Key Questions Answered
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum confirmed that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 Brexit vote using media coverage from state-backed outlets like RT and Sputnik, along with fake social media accounts. However, he emphasized that there is a difference between attempted interference and actually swaying the final outcome, noting that the methods were neither particularly sophisticated nor proven to have changed the result.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham stated that after taking office in July, he asked his advisers if there was Russian interference in the 2016 referendum and received a clear affirmative answer. Burnham argued it is important to put this tampering on the record to help voters in European countries like Germany and France recognize hostile state information campaigns.
A parliamentary committee reported in 2020 that it could not officially confirm Russian interference in the 2016 referendum. The committee criticized the Conservative government at the time for failing to properly investigate the possibility of Russian meddling.
