CITIZENS NEWS

UK “disinformation unit” spied on citizens and flagged online speech for removal during pandemic

By isabelle // 2024-05-21

New documents reveal that authorities in the UK considered placing government employees inside of social media companies to form a type of digital KGB that would control online speech during the pandemic. This is according to recently released minutes from the governing board of the Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU). They show that, as many people suspected, British authorities were actively involved in monitoring people's speech online and flagging certain viewpoints for removal. At one point, they discussed a strategy to “embed” civil servants in various companies that were running social media platforms, and there is nothing in the document to indicate that they did not follow through on this. The CDU, which has since been rebranded the National Security Online Information Team in response to heavy scrutiny, insists that it is “countering disinformation and hostile state narratives” but the agency, along with government-hired private contractors, was put in charge of surveilling British citizens and silencing those who were deemed to be “COVID measures dissenters.” Instead of going after foreign adversaries who were spreading misinformation, they were targeting British citizens – from journalists and medical professionals to politicians – who were criticizing the government.

77th Brigade whistleblower explains how military spied on British citizens

The government also enlisted the help of several military units, one of which was the 77th Brigade, which was originally set up as a psychological operation, or “information warfare” unit. According to the Financial Times, the 77th Brigade was set up to embody “a new generation of ‘Facebook warriors’ who will wage complex and covert information and subversion campaigns.” The British government has said that the “77th Brigade does not, and have never, conducted any kind of action against British citizens,” but that is exactly what happened here. In fact, not only was the 77th Brigade tasked with “countering misinformation,” but it was actually the leader of the effort, working alongside Royal Air Force soldiers to monitor social media platforms in 2020. A whistleblower from within the brigade anonymously told Big Brother Watch that the military skirted the ban on spying on British citizens by essentially pretending that the people they were surveilling might somehow be foreign. The whistleblower explained: “To skirt the clear legal issues with a military unit monitoring domestic dissent, the leading view was that unless a profile explicitly stated their real name and nationality, which is, of course, vanishingly rare, they could be a foreign agent and were fair game to flag up.” “Flagging up” refers to the practice of officials with the UK government sending content to social media platforms that they want to be censored. A report by Big Brother Watch showed how the CDU monitored political dissent on social media platforms, purportedly to tackle misinformation, keeping tabs on a number of prominent journalists and senior politicians. The whistleblower said that he felt the brigade had been sent “down a route which I believe had us monitoring the social media posts of ordinary, scared people communicating government-inspired fear to their friends.” Big Brother Watch Director Silkie Carlo said: “This is an alarming case of mission creep, where public money and even military power have been misused to monitor academics, journalists, campaigners and members of parliament who criticised the government, particularly during the pandemic.” Sources for this article include: ReclaimTheNet.org Substack.com PRWeek.com

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