A Sri Lankan social media influencer has been identified at the centre of a sprawling network of Facebook pages pumping out Islamophobic, anti-migrant and politically inflammatory disinformation aimed at British audiences, according to a joint investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and the Times.
Geeth Sooriyapura, who describes himself as a “Facebook ads king”, claims to have earned 300,000 US dollars through a network of Facebook pages. Many of these pages post racist content directed at Muslims, migrants and political figures such as London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour leader Keir Starmer. The investigation found 128 Facebook pages and groups, with a combined following of 1.6 million users, linked to Sooriyapura and students enrolled in his Facebook monetisation academy.
On his Instagram feed, Sooriyapura flaunts a luxury lifestyle. Videos show him dining at a five-star hotel, displaying expensive watches and filming content at a modern apartment with a pool. He also appears in Sinhala-language videos aimed at his Sri Lankan followers, promoting his training programmes and boasting about his earnings.
In one photograph, he appears alongside Mahinda Deshapriya, who served as Chairman of Election Commission of Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2020.
In interviews with TBIJ, he said he specifically targets “old people … because they are the ones who don’t like immigrants”, adding that UK audiences are lucrative because of their high engagement with political topics, particularly migration. In a separate instructional video, he told students that immigration content is a “strong trigger”, and that it is easy to grow by relying on simple formats such as combining a single photo with emotional music.
One of his pages falsely claimed that Sadiq Khan planned to build 40,000 council homes exclusively for Muslims so they could live “near Mosques and Halal food shopes”. Outraged commenters responded by calling for Khan to be deported or hanged. A spokesperson for Khan said “fake and racist content online has real world consequences” and warned that AI was “supercharging the spread of disinformation”.
The investigation documented several AI-generated videos and images used to stir anger and fear among British users. One widely circulated AI video showed a naval ship ploughing into dinghies carrying asylum seekers, throwing people into the sea. Another used an image of Black men in an overcrowded boat off Italy, turned into a 15-second clip urging viewers to “share if you want Britain to put its OWN PEOPLE before foreigners looking for handouts”.
Sooriyapura’s methods revolve around gaming Meta’s monetisation tools. He encourages students to create pages in specific “niches” such as lifestyle, religion, nail art or politics, the last of which he says consistently drives viral engagement. In a screen-share posted online, he displayed earnings of 1,400 US dollars from a single Facebook page in one month, around a third of Sri Lanka’s average yearly income. He tells students to use Meta’s in-stream ads, subscriptions and performance bonuses to maximise revenue.
Students openly celebrate their earnings in Facebook groups run by Sooriyapura. One posted an AI-generated image of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg surrounded by cash with the caption: “Thank you very much Mr Zuckerberg for helping people in Sri Lanka.”
Researchers say Sooriyapura represents a growing trend of financially motivated disinformation operations. Sam Stockwell of the Centre for Emerging Technology and Security said this case shows “more of a convergence of financial motives and disinformation”. Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan of ISD warned that commercial disinformation is “no less harmful” simply because it lacks an ideological driver.
The UK-focused pages in his network amplify anti-Muslim narratives and aggressively target Labour officials. Some posts claim Starmer will introduce sharia law despite being an atheist, while others show AI-generated images of Starmer in Islamic clothing or in fabricated scenes of arrest. The pages also promote far-right figures, including Nigel Farage, often using AI-generated images of Reform UK politicians accompanied by false claims.
Several UK political figures have unknowingly engaged with content produced by the network. Reform UK councillor Bill Piper commented “I’ve been saying it for ages” on a post featuring an AI-generated image of a man wearing a slogan-emblazoned T-shirt. Nigel Clarke, a Reform UK parliamentary candidate, reshared a post from one of the pages.
Meta said it removed pages flagged for violating policies on inauthentic behaviour. When approached by the Times, Sooriyapura denied wrongdoing, saying “I think this is an misunderstanding” and that he only teaches “facebook monetisation”.
British lawmakers have raised concerns about the ease with which disinformation can be monetised. Labour MP Emily Darlington, who sits on the Commons science, innovation and technology committee, said she intends to amend the forthcoming Elections Bill to curb online disinformation. “We need to find a way to stop this monetisation of hate,” she said.
