Press regulator IPSO says it has received nearly 25,000 accuracy complaints relating to coverage in multiple newspapers of comments made by Misan Harriman about an incident where two Jewish men were attacked with a knife in Golders Green, London.
IPSO raised concerns that many of the complaints may have been generated using artificial intelligence. As a result the watchdog has alerted the Information Commissioner and sought guidance.
A platform called Newscord says more than 100,000 complaints have been generated using a service whereby it generates detailed complaint letters on behalf of users at the click of a button.
Press Gazette understands the suspicion is that AI was used to file multiple complaints from fake people using this platform.
It highlighted news reports and leader columns in the Telegraph, Times, GB News, Mail, Express and Evening Standard about Harriman, a filmmaker and chairman of the Southbank Centre.
Harriman has also complained to IPSO.
Harriman alleged that the media had ignored the fact the Golders Green attacker also tried to kill a Muslim man on the same day. The Telegraph and other outlets have reported on this.
A second round of articles quoted a video in which Harriman referenced the Holocaust in a comment about the May local elections in Britain saying: “10% of people in any population are cruel no matter what”.
This prompted headlines such as this on GB News: “Arts chief who ‘compared Reform voters to Nazi supporters’ urged to resign over ‘divisive agenda’”.
IPSO said it had received the following total number of complaints:
- Daily Mail: 7580
- Express.co.uk: 8091
- Telegraph.co.uk: 8237
- The Times: 903
Newscord’s platform also generates letters to the editor and cites a wider number of articles and publishers, possibly explaining why its tally of 100,000 complaints is higher than the IPSO total.
Meanwhile, a Guardian columnist has characterised media criticism of Harriman as racist.
And The New World suggested IPSO should circumvent its normal process and issue “an emergency interim finding on the Harriman case”.
IPSO said in a statement: “Since 11 May, IPSO has received a large number of complaints from members of the public relating to coverage of the Chair of the Southbank Centre, Misan Harriman. These complaints were submitted via a third-party platform.
“In many instances, we received multiple complaints about the same coverage, apparently submitted by the same person, that differ in their wording. We are uncertain as to whether the complainants involved saw copies of the complaints as they were submitted. It appears that these complaints may have been generated using artificial intelligence.
“As we have begun processing the complaints, we have received objections from members of the public that they did not understand at the time of submission that their data would be shared with us and did not consent to this.
“Because of these concerns, we have written to the Information Commissioner’s Office to inform them of this chain of events, explain the steps we have taken to ensure compliance with our data protection obligations, and seek further guidance on handling complaints which may have been generated using artificial intelligence, and where the complainant may not be fully aware of the content of the complaint that has been submitted on their behalf or how their data would be processed. We have written to all who submitted complaints through this platform to ensure they have appropriate information about how their data will be processed by IPSO.
“Mr Harriman has also submitted his own complaints, which we are taking forward in accordance with our standard procedures. As always, we encourage members of the public wishing to submit a complaint to do so via our complaints form.”
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