(C) OpenDemocracy
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Government misinformation team flagged journalists and criticism [1]
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Date: 2023-02
Government officials tasked with monitoring ‘disinformation’ and “harmful narratives” flagged an investigation by openDemocracy that exposed Westminster’s culture of secrecy.
In November 2020, we revealed that the government was mishandling Freedom of Information requests.
Eventually, our journalism led to a parliamentary inquiry and forced the government to commit to reforms after a judge criticised the operations of the Cabinet Office and its lack of transparency.
But now it has emerged that openDemocracy’s investigation caught the attention of a little-known government team called the Rapid Response Unit (RRU), which was supposedly focused on tackling “misinformation and disinformation”.
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Set up in 2018, the RRU, which was based across the Cabinet Office and Number 10, was designed to spot “stories of concern” in order to counter “a range of harmful narratives online”.
Although officials claimed it was not a “fake news” unit, the RRU was intended to tackle “false” narratives.
Now, a new report by civil liberties organisation Big Brother Watch has revealed that the RRU conducted “significant levels of surveillance”, including flagging criticism of government policy by politicians and journalists under the guise of tackling misinformation.
The day after openDemocracy published its first investigation into the government’s handling of FOI requests, the RRU circulated an “analysis” document about it. This highlighted journalists and organisations that had tweeted or retweeted the story.
When openDemocracy tried to obtain a copy of the document under the FOI Act, the Cabinet Office rejected our request, claiming its disclosure would “weaken ministers and officials’ ability to discuss controversial and sensitive topics free from premature public scrutiny”.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/cabinet-office-misinformation-unit-monitored-investigation-into-government-secrecy-and-foi/
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