A secret UK government unit worked with social media companies to shut down dissent against authoritarian lockdown policies during the COVID pandemic, according to a bombshell report.
Ministers set up the Counter-Disinformation Unit (CDU) in 2019 to address domestic “threats,” which was actually used to target critics of the lockdowns and the mass vaccination of children.
From The Telegraph:
Critics of lockdown had posts removed from social media. There is growing suspicion that social media firms used technology to stop the posts being promoted, circulated or widely shared after being flagged by the CDU or its counterpart in the Cabinet Office.
Documents revealed under Freedom of Information (FoI) and data protection requests showed that the activities of prominent critics of the Government’s Covid policies were secretly monitored.
An artificial intelligence firm (AI) was used by the Government to scour social media sites. The company flagged discussions opposing vaccine passports.
Many of the issues being raised were valid at the time and have since been proven to be well-founded.
The CDU was at first embedded in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to tackle “misinformation” related to European elections, but soon turned its main focus to COVID.