Did the British Army spy on citizens during the COVID pandemic to see if their social media posts went against government positions? That’s what a whistleblower from the 77th Brigade contends, claiming that the army not only was monitoring critics of the lockdowns but also identifying so-called abusers and instructing social media sites to censor their material. Well-known UK figures such as journalist Peter Hitchens, social commentator Toby Young, and former Conservative Minister and army veteran David Davis were reportedly among tens of thousands being watched because they protested Britain’s lockdown policies.
British Army Whistleblower Speaks Out
The Daily Mail obtained a letter by the anonymous former 77th Brigade officer-turned-whistleblower that described the duties he and others on the team were allegedly expected to carry out for the government. He told the outlet, “It is quite obvious that our activities resulted in the monitoring of the UK population … monitoring the social media posts of ordinary, scared people. These posts did not contain information that was untrue or co-ordinated – it was simply fear.”
Dubbed the “information warfare” brigade, the British regiment’s job is to deploy “non-lethal engagement and legitimate non-military levers as a means to adapt behaviours [sic] of adversaries.” Comprised of regular and reserve troops, the brigade was to seek out foreign influencers who might be spreading so-called misinformation about COVID, but the team has been accused of spying on regular British citizens as well.
The informant said, “This snooping was wrong, it hangs over my proud Army career like a black cloud.” He further wrote:
“I entered this role believing I would be uncovering foreign information warfare. Instead, I found the banner of disinformation was a guise under which the British military was being deployed to monitor and flag our own concerned citizens. There may have actually been social media campaigns from China to promote lockdown policies but because we were directed to monitor sentiment towards the success of lockdown, we would have completely missed them. I had the impression the Government were more interested in protecting the success of their policies than uncovering foreign interference, and I regret that I was part of it.”
David Davis (Photo by Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty Images)
Former Cabinet Minister Davis said, “It’s outrageous that people questioning the Government’s policies were subject to covert surveillance.” And journalist Hitchens believed he was “shadow-banned” on social media because of his criticisms of the government, saying his posts were pushed down in search results.
According to the reports, members of the 77th Brigade were taking screenshots of social media posts made by citizens and forwarding them to government officials who would then determine whether they should be censored, removed, or left alone. The whistleblower emphasized that the British Army was supposed to be looking for foreign enemies, not domestic protesters, but that didn’t seem to be the mission.
“It was about domestic perception, not national security. Frankly, the work I was doing should never have happened. This domestic monitoring of citizens seemed not to be driven by a desire to address the public’s concerns, but to identify levers for compliance with controversial Government policies.”
The British government denied spying on or censoring its citizens but has agreed to open an investigation into the allegations. While this may be happening across the pond, should Americans be worried about such Big Brother involvement here as well? Before you answer, consider all the revelations from Elon Musk and his Twitter Files. As Liberty Nation Chief Political Correspondent Graham J Noble wrote:
“Again, we are faced with the age-old problem of government: When it evolves to the point at which it convinces itself that protecting people from themselves justifies any and all methods of regulation and manipulation, it is already broken.”
The alleged spying and censorship by the British Army are bad enough, but, as Hitchens pointed out, there’s something equally worrisome: “most astonishing thing about the great Covid panic was how many attacks the state managed to make on basic freedoms without anyone much even caring, let alone protesting.”
