London Mayor Sadiq Khan, centre, and Mark Rowley, Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, right, speak to staff, during a walkabout through the borough of Camden in London, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-07-23T13:50:30Z<\/p>\n
LONDON (AP) \u2014 London\u2019s mayor and police chief on Thursday used a drop in recorded street crime to reassure tourists the city is safe and counter an online narrative<\/a><\/span> depicting Britain\u2019s capital as a lawless dystopia.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s Metropolitan Police force said \u201cneighborhood crime,\u201d a category that includes phone theft, pickpocketing, residential burglary and vehicle crime, fell 14% in the year to June. In Westminster borough \u2013 home to tourist magnets including Parliament, Soho and Leicester Square \u2013 those crimes fell by more than a third, and they were down by a quarter in neighboring Camden, another tourist hotspot.<\/p>\n Yet Mayor Sadiq Khan<\/a><\/span> said that in the past two years \u201cwe\u2019ve seen a 200% increase in stories on social media about London being in quote unquote \u2018decline\u2019 or London being dangerous.\u201d Those claims have mushroomed on social media and have been echoed by right-leaning politicians, often tied to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim views.<\/p>\n Khan blames an online \u201coutrage economy\u201d that monetizes negativity.<\/p>\n A big chunk of that online ire is aimed at London\u2019s first Muslim mayor<\/a><\/span>. Khan, who has led London since 2016, has been the target of insults from X owner Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a><\/span>, who has called him a \u201cstone-cold loser\u201d and a \u201cterrible, terrible mayor.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe know there are bot farms making money from negative stories about London,\u201d Khan told The Associated Press. \u201cWe know that there are state actors in Russia and China and MAGA-backed influencers in the USA who want to do London down. Why? Because we\u2019re liberal, we\u2019re progressive, we are multicultural and we\u2019re incredibly successful.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the social media companies don\u2019t sort themselves out, I think there\u2019s got to be regulation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n