00:00to those doom merchants and those people who spread disinformation, misinformation and lies.
00:05Well, at the start of this year, we set out the huge strides we've made in reducing violent crime
00:12across the board, from homicides being at record lows to teenage murders being the lowest this
00:18century. And what we're announcing today is a significant reduction in neighbourhood crime.
00:24This includes robbery, theft, residential burglary, vehicle crime, 35,000 fewer of these crimes
00:31over the last year. That means 35,000 fewer victims. We've seen in the West End a 50% reduction
00:37in phones being stolen across London, a 13,000 reduction in phones being stolen, and that means
00:44fewer victims, which is so incredibly important. But as a consequence of City Hall investment
00:48and the police working incredibly hard, we are seeing more than 1,000 arrests a month.
00:54So to those doom merchants and those people who spread disinformation, misinformation and
00:59lies, we are one of the safest mega cities in the world.
01:04So what we've seen, we've analysed the sort of negative stories about London on social media.
01:10A combination of things are happening. We know that the way algorithms work is they amplify
01:14negative messages. They monetise some of these messages as well. So two things are happening.
01:19One is you've seen bot farms across the world from Vietnam to Sri Lanka, where people are
01:23churning out this negative stuff about London. Why? Because it makes them money.
01:26And secondly, you're seeing state actors, whether it's Russia, China, we've seen MAGA-influenced
01:30actors in the USA spreading disinformation, misinformation and lies. I don't think individuals in
01:36respective cities, like Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Brussels, particularly want to be spiky about
01:44London. We collaborate much more than people think. But social media companies need to wake
01:51up and recognise that the public won't stand for blatant disinformation, misinformation and lies.
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