Britain is in 'a state of grey warfare with Russia', former head of MI6 warns - after the Mail revealed the Russian-linked fake news website which spread lies about the alleged Southport attacker

Britain is in 'a state of grey warfare with Russia', the former head of MI6 has warned, after a Russia-linked social media account spread lies about the alleged Southport attacker.

Sir Richard Dearlove said people don't 'understand the danger that we are in' as he called for greater awareness of how online misinformation is 'a fundamental tactic' in Russia's conflict with the West.

His comments came after a Mail investigation revealed that a Russia-linked social media account amplified incorrect information about the identity of the Southport suspect.

The false claims were viewed an estimated 27 million times and social media firms were last night under mounting pressure to explain why they were allowed to spread so widely.

Sir Keir Starmer warned large social media giants 'violent disorder clearly whipped up online is also a crime and it is happening on your premises'.

The rumours swirling online led to violent disorder in Southport and cities across the country, days after three little girls were stabbed and dozens more injured at a Taylor Swift dance class.

Seventeen-year-old Axel Rudakubana appeared in court yesterday charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.

False information about the defendant was spread online by Channel3 Now, which purports to be a US media site that shares its articles across various social media platforms including X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Facebook.

But Channel3 Now originally started 11 years ago as a Russian YouTube channel posting videos of rally racing in a city known as the 'Armory of Russia'.

The drivers named in the posts appear to have connections to the country's defence and IT industry, including a former KGB operative who has since served in Russia's State Duma.

Speaking to LBC radio, Sir Richard said the website appears to be 'one of the sources of this sort of activity out of Russia'.

'We are in a state of grey warfare with Russia. We may not feel that we are, they certainly feel they are, and the information space to the Russians - the exploitation of that space - is a fundamental tactic in their conflict with the West,' he said.

'So if these bots have been used to stir up, through social media, a violent response, I'm not the slightest bit surprised.

'People don't seem to understand the extent of the Russia attitude to conflict and the way that every aspect of their relationship with us will be seen as a basis for attacking us.'

Sir Richard said the people responsible for spreading the lies have an 'open instruction to exploit opportunities as they identify them'.

'They're not going to get political clearance from Putin to do this,' he said.

'It's just part of the nature of the way that they're set up, and what they're told to do, and they have their instructions. They carry them out, and they're not going to act particularly with restraint.'

Adam Hadley, Executive Director of Tech Against Terrorism, said there was lots of 'suspicious activity' online in the hours leading up to the Southport riots, including accounts calling for people to congregate in the city only hours after being set up.

'We think of bullets and bombs, but we need to be thinking about tweets. We need to think about how online content plays into information warfare,' he said.