UK government admits monitoring criticism of COVID lockdown on social media platforms

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In light of a new report, the UK government admitted it was monitoring criticism of the lockdown on social media platforms through its disinformation units during COVID, but denied targeting individuals.

Westminster made the admission after documents were obtained by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch which revealed Tory MPs and journalists had come to the attention of the UK’s Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU). government.

For its “Ministry of Truth” report (pdf), Big Brother Watch submitted numerous freedom of information requests and cooperated with people in public life who submitted requests to demand copies of their data held by government disinformation units.

During COVID, the government has used different units including the Rapid Response Unit (RRU), Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU), Government Information Cell (GIC). Everyone had a role to play in “countering harmful stories online, monitoring and reporting ‘misinformation’ content to social media companies, and promoting official lines.”

The report revealed that the monitoring and reporting of critics was carried out by the government’s Department of Culture Counter Disinformation Unit (DCMS).

The report also claimed that the British Army’s information warfare machine, the 77th, which carried out operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, collecting tweets from British citizens about COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic, passing them to the Cabinet Office, although it is understood that this ended in late 2021.

Big Brother Watch received testimony from a suspected Army whistleblower from the 77th Brigade, although The Epoch Times was unable to verify these claims or his identity.

Monitor misinformation

A government spokesperson told The Epoch Times that “online misinformation is a serious threat to the UK, which is why during the pandemic we have brought together experts from across government to monitor misinformation. on COVID.

“These units used publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to assess trends and stories of disinformation in the UK.

“They did not target individuals or take any action that could impact anyone’s ability to freely discuss and debate issues,” he added.

Filmmaker and book author, A State of Fear Laura Dodsworth 2022, (Courtesy of Laura Dodsworth)

In the report, figures who deserved CDU attention included Tory MP David Davis, Lockdown Skeptics founder Toby Young, talkRADIOs Julia Hartley-Brewer and Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens.

The report noted that author Laura Dodsworth found herself in a June 2021 “Cross Whitehall Weekly Counter Disinformation Report” mentioning the launch of her book “A State of Fear: How the UK Government Weaponized Fear during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Dodsworth had been investigating the UK government’s nudge unit, which she said had deliberately deployed fear to force the public to comply with measures such as extended lockdowns and vaccinations.

Although the launch was chosen by the Daily Telegraph, the Times and the Daily Mail, it was the coverage of the Kremlin-linked news outlet Russia Today that was picked up by the CDU, highlighting its portrayal of government advisers as unelected psychocrats.

“Treated us all as biohazards, and therefore as eligible for surveillance”

Dodsworth told The Epoch Times via email that she believes the report “vindicates some of the unnamed sources and findings published in her book.”

“Something is rotten in a state where the surveillance apparatus is geared towards the innocent civilian,” she said.

“In a free and democratic country, propaganda and surveillance could be directed against enemy states and terrorists, but not against the population. The rationale could be the war footing the government has put us on for a virus,” she said.

Dodsworth said the “inevitable consequence of seeing the enemy not as a distant country with a red button at the fingertips of a despot or a terrorist with a suicide vest, but as any citizen harboring a virus, is to treat this citizen as the enemy”. .

“The government has treated us all as biohazards, and therefore as eligible for surveillance and censorship,” she added.

Dodsworth said “units should be disbanded and investigated immediately” and “are not being adequately monitored”.

Conservative MP and former Secretary of State David Davis is pictured in London on February 6, 2019. (Tolga Akmem/AFP via Getty Images)Serious Rethink

In a statement, Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, said “government truth units are secretive and harmful to our democracy,” and demanded that they be suspended immediately and fully investigated.

This is an alarming case of mission drift, where public money and even military power has been diverted to monitor academics, journalists, activists and parliamentarians who have criticized the government, especially during the pandemic,” she said.

The fact that this political surveillance took place under the guise of fighting disinformation shows how, in the absence of serious safeguards, the concept of misinformation is open to abuse and has become a blank check that the government uses in an attempt to control online narratives,” she added.

Adding to the statement, Tory MP David Davis said “Big Brother Watchs findings” should sound alarm bells for anyone familiar with the dangers of the superpowered state.

“Journalists, politicians and members of the public should all be free to express their opinions without scrutiny by government agencies,” he said.

Privacy and freedom of expression are core values. But in the war against disinformation, they are put in danger. It’s time to seriously rethink the core of government, Davis added.

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