London Mayor Khan Demands Censorship Unit Amid Crime Surge
London Mayor Sadiq Khan proposes a new government 'disinformation' unit with powers to punish social media platforms as crime data reveals major increases under his leadership.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called on the government to create a new "disinformation" unit with powers to punish social media platforms — while his own X post about the speech had replies disabled. The proposal arrives as official data shows theft, violence, sexual offences, and drug crimes have all surged by 27 to 140 percent during Khan's decade in office.
Speaking at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit April 9, Khan demanded a central government body with "agility and authority" to combat what he called a "dark blizzard of disinformation" about London. He urged expanded powers for Ofcom to "hit companies where it hurts" if platforms fail to remove content he deems harmful. "Unless regulators like Ofcom have the power to hit companies where it hurts, they'll keep on getting away with it," Khan told the summit.
The censorship push comes as Metropolitan Police statistics reveal dramatic crime increases under Khan's leadership. Theft from the person skyrocketed 140 percent, rising from 35,570 incidents in 2016/17 to 85,465 in 2025/26. Sexual offences jumped 55 percent, drug offences increased 34 percent, and violence against the person grew 27 percent over the same period.
Khan counters with homicide statistics showing 97 killings in 2025, the lowest since records began. He argues London's homicide rate of 1.1 per 100,000 people compares favorably to New York's 2.8, Toronto's 1.6, and Milan's 1.6. This selective focus on one declining metric while four others surge draws criticism from those who say it presents a misleading picture of public safety.
Civil liberties group Big Brother Watch warned April 10 that "disinformation is a real problem – but it's also a term at risk of political exploitation by governments." Their statement came hours after Khan's speech advocating for the new censorship unit, which they say matches patterns of government overreach they've documented.
Political opponents accuse Khan of using disinformation claims to silence legitimate criticism. "Khan's pushback against the ballooning negative online commentary surrounding London was a handy trend to stifle any criticism of his failures as mayor of London, and bury his head in the sand whilst Londoners see crime go unchallenged," said Susan Hall, London Assembly Conservatives leader.
Reform UK London Mayoral Candidate Laila Cunningham stated bluntly, "Misinformation is now just code for censorship." She added, "Khan spent a decade making London dangerous. Now he wants to make it illegal to say so. He's not trying to make London safer he's trying to make it look safer."
Business leaders and community activists report worsening conditions that contradict official narratives. M&S Retail Director Thinus Keeve said, "I keep hearing crime is falling, especially in London – something none of us believes, and very few people working in retail would see. In fact, we see the absolute opposite in our high streets and in our stores."
Pastor Lorraine Jones Burrell MBE of the Dwayne Simpson Foundation told reporters, "When asked whether the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is doing enough to tackle knife crime, my answer is no." Knife crime reached 16,147 offences in 2024/25, up from 9,721 in Boris Johnson's last year.
Khan cited the case of Kevin Rees, a 63-year-old retired electrician convicted January 28 for bombing a Ulez camera after exposure to online conspiracy theories. The mayor claimed this demonstrates "the link between online disinformation and offline harm." Rees planted a homemade bomb December 6, 2023 that damaged property up to 100 meters away.
Crime on London's transport network tells a similar story. Transport for London reported 48,000 crimes in 2025, a 46 percent increase from the pre-pandemic average of 16,544 incidents. Criminal damage on TfL surged 152 percent during the same period.
Khan's Greater London Authority research shows online narratives about London's decline increased 150-200 percent between March 2024 and March 2026. Migration-related narratives jumped 350 percent. The mayor identified Vietnam-based networks with 42 Facebook pages and 1.25 million followers, Sri Lankan content farms, and extreme right-wing groups as sources of what he calls disinformation.
The mayor insisted, "I haven't come here today to ask anyone to take down content which criticises me." Yet his X post about the speech reportedly had replies disabled, creating what critics call a performative contradiction.
If London becomes "the canary in the coalmine" as Khan predicts, it will be for reasons he's ignoring rather than the online narratives he's targeting. The censorship proposal represents a classic establishment move to control the narrative when accountability bites — using "disinformation" as a cudgel to silence criticism of real policy failures.