1.6: “Spread Fear of Immigrants”

During the campaign, news outlets amplified Britain’s divisions in two main ways.

First, conservative newspapers backing Brexit helped amplify fear to advance their narrative. Prime Minister David Cameron warned that leaving the EU could trigger an economic crisis, and quality outlets such as The Guardian and The Independent endorsed Remain. However, their reach was overshadowed by Rupert Murdoch–owned tabloids like The Sun and Daily Mail, which framed immigration as a national emergency and contributed to rising anti-immigrant sentiment and Islamophobia. False and misleading claims circulated rapidly across social media platforms, reinforcing these messages. At the time, 75 percent of voters identified immigration as the most pressing national issue.

Second, an aggressive messaging war erupted on social media—particularly on Twitter. In the days before the vote, more than 150,000 Russia-linked Twitter accounts posted hundreds of thousands of English-language messages supporting Brexit, many stoking fear of Muslims and immigrants. These accounts had been largely inactive a month earlier but began posting at high volume as the referendum neared—45,000 tweets in the 48 hours before the vote and 39,000 on polling day—often using pro-Brexit hashtags. One account based in a Russian resort town urged Britons to make June 23 “Independence Day.” After Leave won, UKIP leader Nigel Farage triumphantly declared it “Britain’s Independence Day.”

This rhetoric—suggesting that leaving the EU would restore Britain's former imperial stature—deepened divisions between the UK and the European Union. Some analysts interpreted it as a form of geopolitical influence or “public diplomacy,” aimed at weakening European cohesion and expanding Russian influence. Russian state-backed outlets such as RT and Sputnik actively promoted pro-Brexit narratives before and after the vote. Although President Vladimir Putin denied interference, multiple governments--including those in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Spain--have raised concerns about Russian involvement in their domestic political processes.

In 2017, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre confirmed sustained Russian cyberattacks on UK energy, media, and communications sectors. “Cyberwarfare” had become a new battleground—one that would erupt even more fiercely in the United States.

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