I've worked in government influence campaigns myself. I really believe in positive influence as a social good. Amazing campaigns that we've had in the UK are th

I've worked in government influence campaigns myself. I really believe in positive influence as a social good. Amazing campaigns that we've had in the UK are the famous 70's "Stop Look. Listen." road safety campaign with Darth Vader actor D.Prowse, and other great Saatchi ones with the NHS on heart health and anti-smoking. These all undoubtedly saved millions of lives without fearmongering, or being overbearing nanny-state performances. There is however, a rather sinister subculture within British influence of smug down-talking, classist, oh-so-superior "we know best" messaging. The BBC's TV licence ads were comical, with overt menacing of the poor and old. The late 1980's AIDS/HIV campaigns felt disgracefully out of touch. Although they look like internal projects coming through outfits like NHS, 77 Bgd. or the H.O. it's really spun out to contractors and the messaging quickly gets out of control. In this case I believe its Saatchi again. Unfortunately they've really rather fucked this one. I'd call it malinfluence and stright up propaganda in the bad old sense. Indeed, it's a disgraceful example of what happens you you mix technology with people who are intellectually out of their depth. Knowing a abit about how this stuff works though, I'd say it really isn't necessarily the position of the government. It's a cheap "think of the children" shot against Big Tech (so of course I applaud that) and also a smokescreen for all the other general mischief and twattery going on these days. It's terrifying that people of such incompetence and ignorance can get their hands on powerful channels - precisely what we're trying to curb when Facebook do it.