Army ‘information warfare’ unit kept tabs on lockdown critics

THE Army’s “information warfare” unit monitored Covid lockdown critics during the pandemic, the Government has revealed.

The 77th Brigade, a specialist unit set up to counter disinformation and other online activity deemed harmful to the UK, assisted other government units to check what was being shared online.

Publicly available social media posts were scrutinised for accuracy and challenged if the Government felt information presented to the public was incorrect, inaccurate or deliberately misleading.

The Government made the admission in response to an article in The Mail on Sunday, based on reports from an anonymous Army whistleblower and documents obtained by the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch.

The whistleblower told The Mail on Sunday: “It is quite obvious that our activities resulted in the monitoring of the UK population… monitoring the social media posts of ordinary, scared people.”

A government spokesman said: “Online disinformation is a serious threat to the UK, which is why during the pandemic we brought together expertise from across government to monitor disinformation about Covid.

“These units used publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to assess UK disinformation trends and narratives. They did not target individuals or take any action that could impact anyone’s ability to discuss and debate issues freely.”

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is in charge of the Government’s counter-disinformation strategy. During the pandemic however, the Government’s response to harmful online messaging was largely conducted through three separate units brought together for the duration of the national emergency.

The Counter Disinformation Unit, a part of DCMS, searched for content deemed harmful to the UK which was then flagged to social media platforms.

The Cabinet Office’s Rapid Response Unit, launched in March 2020, was designed to identify and counter social media posts and other commentary from purported experts issuing dangerous misinformation, as well as phishing scams run by criminal fraudsters. The unit, which has since been disbanded, played a central role in tackling misinformation online during the pandemic.

The 77th Brigade, established in 2015, mostly focuses on hostile state actors and violent extremist organisations outside the UK. During the pandemic the Government used some of its experts to help counter disinformation.

‘We used publicly available data, including material on social media, to assess disinformation trends’