Sadiq Khan unleashes £7million campaign to 'fight lies and hatred' about London's crime epidemic

Sir Sadiq Khan has revealed a £7million campaign to fight "lies and hatred" about London's crime epidemic.

The Mayor of London said the seven-figure social media campaign will showcase the capital to the world in order to tackle so-called "disinformation" which he says is harming its reputation.

Claiming there was a "global scourge" of disinformation against London, the campaign will celebrate the capital's "rich heritage, world-class experiences, culture, creativity and role as a centre for innovation and trade".

It will target audiences across Europe, the United State, and Asia, after a report from the Greater London Authority found a 200 per cent increase in social media posts portraying London as dangerous or in decline.

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According to the GLA's report, published in March, social media platforms had a marked increased in "narratives" describing London as "dangerous" or "lawless".

Sir Sadiq said: "We are facing a relentless and unprecedented attack of lies and hatred from those wanting to damage our capital’s standing and our hugely important tourism industry.

"Disinformation about London has become a truly global scourge. It's a money-making industry pushing lies about our capital and preying on people's fears around the world, so we must fight back on a global scale.

"That's why we're creating this major new campaign to challenge these false narratives and demonstrate once again why there’s no better place in the world than London."

Sir Sadiq has also previously hit out at Donald Trump, claiming ideas "on the periphery and the margins" were now part of mainstream conversation thanks to the President.

And a new report, analysing social media "misinformation" in Asia, found more than 88,000 Japanese-language posts relating to London's crime, safety, migration and asylum policies.

The GLA had previously identified a "Vietnam-based Facebook network" of at least 42 pages using AI-generated images to produce "emotive content" about London and its Mayor.

But critics have said the Mayor should look to tackle crime itself, rather than social media posts pointing out that crime exists.

Susan Hall, the leader of the City Hall Conservatives said Sir Sadiq "should spend more time trying to fix things as opposed to saying 'la la la la la', I'm not listening, everything's fine".

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Reform UK's London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham said: "If the Mayor of London wants to encourage more tourism, he should deal with the crime he has allowed to spiral out of control instead of suggesting that victims of crime are liars."

Sir Sadiq's anti-"disinformation" campaign comes amid a phone-stealing crimewave in the heart of the capital.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has had to appeal to the Government to force technology companies to make devices more difficult to steal such is the scale of the theft.

Freedom of Information requests show only a fraction of devices stolen in London are returned to their owners.

Between 2017 and February 27 2024, a total of 587,498 phones were stolen in London.

Just 13,998 were recovered.

Sir Mark told GB News: "I gave an ultimatum to tech firms - take urgent steps to prevent stolen phones from being resold and reused, or we will call on Government to step in and legislate.

"For the first time, we are routinely sharing intelligence on stolen devices, building a joint picture of how these phones move and whether they reappear in circulation."

The Met says the homicide rate in London had dropped to its lowest in 11 years in 2025.

But the capital has the highest per capita rates of personal robbery and theft from the person in England and Wales.

The campaign will be carried out by London & Partners, a "growth agency" for the capital established by former mayor Boris Johnson in 2011.

The firm receives millions of pounds in funding from City Hall every year - paid for by the taxpayer.

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