Oliver Dowden, Deputy Prime Minister, was the head of the government's secret disinformation unit. Photo: British Parliament/Jessica Taylor/Pennsylvania.
Oliver Dowden, deputy prime minister, led the government's secret disinformation unit (CDU) during the pandemic, according to the Telegraph.
Mr Dowden, who was minister of culture at the time, instructed CDU to start fighting misinformation about Covid in March 2020.
The Telegraph reported last week that the unit noted discussions about controversial lockdown policies and criticism of mass vaccination of children against Covid, including using artificial intelligence.
The documents also show that British citizens, including respected academics and campaigners, monitored their communications.
The Telegraph understands that Michelle Donelan, Mr Dowden's eventual successor, tried to shut down the CDU after she took up a post at the Ministry of Culture, Media and Sports in September last year. year.
She was uncomfortable that the unit flagged social media posts by British citizens that were neither disinformation – false information spread intentionally nor disinformation – false information spread unintentionally.
Ms Donelan, who is currently time is on maternity leave – she expressed her concerns to officials at a meeting after taking office. The source said she believes the unit should be replaced or removed to focus “only on foreign [materials] and disinformation.”
Ms. Donelan will return to responsibility for the unit when she returns from maternity leave over the summer in her new role as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Who led the anti-disinformation unit
On Tuesday Government officials from all over forces were trying to stem the growing CDU scandal.
Mr Dowden joined an emergency meeting with staff to discuss the hype, and sources insisted the CDU's activities were harmless as they searched the open web for information. .
The government has previously said that it has not reported any of the examples found by the Telegraph to social media companies for deletion, and that it does not report reports from MPs and journalists.
However, it has “trusted the flagger” on Twitter and Facebook, which allows you to quickly track complaints about content that it believes violates the rules of the platforms.
During the pandemic, Mr. Dowden and former health secretary Matt Hancock also attended a meeting with technology companies dedicated to how to deal with misinformation about Covid.
Michelle Donelan will resume work on the division when she returns from maternity leave this summer. Photo: John Lawrence
MPs expressed concern about CDU activities to Lucy Fraser, Minister of Culture, Wikimedia Commons on Tuesday.
Clive Efford, Labor MP, asked Ms Fraser if she had “any relationship” with the unit and could confirm that the government is “engaging companies that use artificial intelligence to check people's social media accounts.” networks.”
Ms Frazier responded that the unit moved to another department when she was appointed culture minister earlier this year, at the same time that Rishi Sunak ordered broader changes in government .
She said: “The position that the disinformation unit is in DeSIT [Department of Science, Innovation and Technology]. So I had no business.”
Ruth Hannant, her permanent secretary, who sits next to Ms. Fraser, added: “As far as I know from people talking at DeSIT, the unit has never tracked the activities of individuals.”
The CDU used to work for the Department of Culture, Media and Sports, but moved to the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology in March.
Nadine Dorris said it was “a very small division run by a very small number of employees”. Photo: Andrew Crowley. Covid skeptic.
In September 2020, he was reported to have called the coronavirus a “ghost” and a “mental illness” in Twitter posts that have since been deleted.
Ms Smith declined to comment.
Nadine Dorries, who led the unit immediately after Mr. Dowden and before Ms. Donelan, told The Telegraph that she knew about the CDU and was informed about it, but never saw people which are part of it.
The government has repeatedly refused to disclose the unit's staffing or budget on national security grounds.
However, Ms. Dorries said on Monday that it is “a very small unit run by a very small number of employees.” employees.”
A source close to Mr. Dowden said: “As Secretary of State for Culture, Oliver Dowden strongly supported freedom of speech… The job of government is to keep the people safe, not to stifle freedom and legitimate debate.”< /p>
A government spokesman said the CDU is “fighting the most serious threats posed by disinformation to UK public health and national security. During the pandemic, this included speculation that bleach injections cured Covid-19 and misinformation about 5G technology that led to the burning of masts across the country. Since then, the unit has been working to counter Russian-backed disinformation about the invasion of Ukraine.”
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