A Policy Briefing from the APPG on Political and Media Literacy

The Representation of the People Bill presents a critical opportunity to safeguard our democracy from the digital-age threats of AI-generated misinformation and the financial incentives which spread online hate. Shout Out UK (SOUK), in collaboration with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Political and Media Literacy and with input from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), is calling for the monetisation of harmful and AI-generated political content to be brought strictly into the scope of this legislation.

As Parliamentarians engage in the line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill, our new briefing provides the contextual evidence and formal recommendations needed to address dangerous gaps in the current legislative framework.

The Case for Reform: Why Now?

While platforms such as YouTube are attempting to demonetise some AI-generated content to remove financial incentives for misleading material, others, including TikTok and X, continue to monetise content that may include AI-generated political messaging.

Monetisation tied to views encourages creators to prioritise sensational, divisive content. Our recent joint investigations highlight a dangerous new precedent: the use of AI-generated influencers for political campaigning.

 Who is Danny Bones?

A supposedly working-class British rapper, “Danny Bones”, whose content is available across platforms including Instagram, X, Youtube and and Spotify, was revealed by our investigations to be an AI-generated character created by the “Node Project”.

Political Funding Advance UK, a far-right party, paid the Node Project to produce several campaign and election videos, marking what multiple researchers believe is the first time a registered political party has hired an AI-generated influencer for election content.

Monetisation of Outrage: Following the TBIJ exposure,  we can now reveal that the Node Project used the attention to drive donations and paid memberships (£20–£100 tiers).  Crypto speculators created several Danny Bones-themed tokens on the Solana blockchain. It shared a wallet address for donations and is currently developing a NODE coin. 

  • Escalating Harm: With engagement now driving revenue, “Danny Bones’” content has become more extreme, featuring explicitly anti-immigrant lyrics and AI-generated imagery of masked men storming Parliament.

Our Policy Recommendations

To protect the integrity of the UK’s electoral process, we propose the following “Gold Standard” for platform accountability:

  • Mandatory Demonetisation: Adopt a consistent model across all platforms—including Spotify—ensuring that disinformation, AI-generated political manipulation, and hate speech are ineligible for monetisation.
  • Proactive Enforcement: Grant the Electoral Commission or Ofcom the power to mandate the suspension of monetisation privileges for repeat offenders.
  • Clearer AI Imprints: Require unambiguous digital imprints for all AI-generated content of a political nature to ensure voters know when they are interacting with synthetic media.
  • Transparency Reporting: Require platforms to publish quarterly reports to Ofcom detailing monetised political content, including engagement metrics and enforcement actions taken.
  • A “Levy for Literacy”: Establish a 1% levy on UK profits from online platforms. Similar to the gambling industry levy, these funds should support teacher training and media literacy initiatives to counterbalance the harms created by algorithmic amplification. This aligns with the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee’s 2025 recommendations.

Matt Bishop, MP, Co-Chair of the APPG on Political and Media Literacy commented: 

 “The ‘Danny Bones’ investigation exposes a dangerous loophole in our current laws where synthetic characters can be used to bypass democratic norms for profit. We cannot allow platforms to treat the subversion of our elections as a revenue stream. This Bill must ensure that AI-generated political manipulation is ineligible for monetisation and that tech giants contribute to the media literacy education needed to protect our citizens.”  

Matteo Bergamini, MBE, Founder and CEO of Shout Out UK commented: 

‘In partnership with the APPG on Political and Media Literacy and TBIJ, we want to make sure our findings are used to inform the Representation of the People Bill. We are calling for clearer legislation around the monetisation of extremist political content: if content is designed to subvert democracy or spread hate through AI manipulation, it should not be eligible for ad revenue or platform profit.’

Read the full briefing here. Follow us on social media for updates as the Representation of the People Bill passes through Parliament. 

AI APPG misinformation UK elections