3 ms·

RAF intelligence officers joined Whitehall and Army in 'spying' on Covid critics

18 points by verisimi 3y ago

verisimi 3y ago
> These Whitehall outfits were tasked with tackling 'disinformation' and 'harmful narratives' during the pandemic. Their activities have faced fierce criticism after it emerged they also collected legitimate social media posts questioning Government lockdown policies. > Dossiers were compiled on public figures including Tory ex-Minister David Davis, who questioned the modelling behind alarming Covid death toll predictions, and The MoS's [Mail on Sunday] Peter Hitchens. > The documents reveal defence chiefs privately conceded the military's work for the Government could pose a 'potential presentational risk of Defence 'spying' or conducting 'Psyops' on the UK'. But the MoD feared that if the Armed Forces did not help the Government's online monitoring, then 'harmful misinformation and disinformation' could spread. "Defence chiefs privately conceded the military's work for the Government could pose a 'potential presentational risk of Defence 'spying' or conducting 'Psyops' on the UK'" Its not a potential presentational risk though, is it? It an actual admitted reality!
Eumenes 3y ago
the UK is going dystopian real fast: you can be arrested for memes, mean tweets, and monitored by the military for questioning government responses to a virus. The push for client side scanning failed but it'll be back, "for the children", of course. Commonwealth countries all seem to be similar in this regard. The US has its problems but it still feels objectively more free than UK, Canada, or New Zealand. I know thats a controversial statement and will piss some people off.
- cempaka 3y ago
  Here's the Metropolitan Police trying to track down a woman who held a placard comparing Israel's treatment of POWs to the Nazis': https://twitter.com/metpoliceuk/status/1733560251486441582?t=Sbq2MPlIFIhThXqUWHS9Fg&s=19 https://twitter.com/metpoliceuk/status/1733560251486441582?t...
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  You can't use broad strokes to describe the freedom of the USA. Prime example: abortion. Next.

18 points by verisimi 3y ago

> These Whitehall outfits were tasked with tackling 'disinformation' and 'harmful narratives' during the pandemic. Their activities have faced fierce criticism after it emerged they also collected legitimate social media posts questioning Government lockdown policies. > Dossiers were compiled on public figures including Tory ex-Minister David Davis, who questioned the modelling behind alarming Covid death toll predictions, and The MoS's [Mail on Sunday] Peter Hitchens. > The documents reveal defence chiefs privately conceded the military's work for the Government could pose a 'potential presentational risk of Defence 'spying' or conducting 'Psyops' on the UK'. But the MoD feared that if the Armed Forces did not help the Government's online monitoring, then 'harmful misinformation and disinformation' could spread. "Defence chiefs privately conceded the military's work for the Government could pose a 'potential presentational risk of Defence 'spying' or conducting 'Psyops' on the UK'" Its not a potential presentational risk though, is it? It an actual admitted reality!

Eumenes 3y ago

the UK is going dystopian real fast: you can be arrested for memes, mean tweets, and monitored by the military for questioning government responses to a virus. The push for client side scanning failed but it'll be back, "for the children", of course. Commonwealth countries all seem to be similar in this regard. The US has its problems but it still feels objectively more free than UK, Canada, or New Zealand. I know thats a controversial statement and will piss some people off.

cempaka 3y ago
Here's the Metropolitan Police trying to track down a woman who held a placard comparing Israel's treatment of POWs to the Nazis': https://twitter.com/metpoliceuk/status/1733560251486441582?t=Sbq2MPlIFIhThXqUWHS9Fg&s=19 https://twitter.com/metpoliceuk/status/1733560251486441582?t...
hammyhavoc 3y ago
You can't use broad strokes to describe the freedom of the USA. Prime example: abortion. Next.