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Question for @marksedwill, UK Cabinet Secretary, has 77 brigade been tasked with identifying domestic social media content on #COVID-19 and targeting for manipulation and censorship?
1) @marksedwill now possesses extraordinary power within the UK government, serving as head of the Cabinet Office, National Security Advisor and Head of the Civil Service
2) As Cabinet Secretary he oversees the Rapid Response Unit which in turn directs 77Brigade, a UK *military* propaganda operation, which is active in countering what they claim to be ‘disinformation’ https://twitter.com/markcurtis30/status/1257573360273326080?s=20
3) Interestingly, @tobias_ellwood MP is a member of 77Brigade and Chair of the Defence Select Committee. In a clear conflict of interest he serves with 77 Brigade:- https://twitter.com/Tim_Hayward_/status/1178951195672678401?s=20
4) We also now know that the Scientific Pandemic Influenza group on Behaviour (SPI-B), reconvened on February 13 2020, have provided advice for SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/covid-coercion-boris-johnsons-psychological-attack-uk-public
5) This advice includes using media to ‘raise the perceived level of threat’ from COVID-19. See here for further documents:- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XKgbU1A0Hn0ilSOjxEQLvq58Cu5NU1P7
6) Documents from SPI-B also included this graph which indicates that lockdown was expected only to delay a peak in infections until the Autumn, not eradicate the virus.
7) Numerous scientists and commentators questioned the lockdown strategy: The latest is Professor Gupta from the University of Oxford: https://twitter.com/SamSoleZA/status/1263555907188908032?s=20
8) Lord Sumption has also challenged UK government lockdown policy arguing it is deeply flawed:-
9) And UK columnist Peter Hitchens has consistently questioned UK government #lockdownuk policy:- https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1263482103871746049?s=20
10) And even a government advisor has claimed the UK government has ‘terrorised Britons’ regarding the threat from Corona virus https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/05/07/government-has-terrorised-britons-believing-coronavirus-will/
11) And yet in recent weeks we have seen aggressive censorship of highly reputable scientists questioning the COVID-19 response:- https://twitter.com/freddiesayers/status/1264104411401420802?s=20
12) For example, this interview with Professor Sikora @uob_medic was removed by @youtube and only replaced after extensive protests:- https://unherd.com/thepost/professor-karol-sikora-fear-is-more-dangerous-than-the-virus/
13) Other instances of censorship have occurred, for example, in relation to Dr John Ioannidis of Stanford University https://twitter.com/markdgold/status/1264225813488173063?s=20
14) And in Germany there has been smearing of Professor Bhadki in the German mainstream media
15) Meanwhile, critics of government policy have been subjected to abuse and harassment online whilst legitimate questions and debate have been repeatedly smeared as ‘conspiracy theory’ https://twitter.com/ClarkeMicah/status/1262653923829125120?s=20
16) and falsely accused of spreading misinformation, for example:- https://twitter.com/ClarkeMicah/status/1263726431667879937?s=20
17) Concentration of power and state propaganda are fundamental threats to democracy. The question now is how far that concentration of power has gone (i.e. @sedwill)
18) and whether UK military propaganda by way of 77 Brigade is manipulating the UK public sphere, suppressing dissent via smears and censorship, in order to shore up their COVID strategy? https://twitter.com/mikeukc/status/1263146215224627200?s=20
19) Questions need to be asked, please ask them:- @DavidDavisMP @MPIainDS @SteveBakerHW @SuellaBraverman @EmilyThornberry @BillCashMP @michaelgove @JohnRedwood @Geoffrey_Cox
