Coronavirus: British army called in to help quash online conspiracy theories

The British army’s information warfare unit has been called in to counter an alarming rise in propaganda and conspiracy theories on coronavirus being spread online by groups with increasing international links, The Independent has learned.

The 77th Brigade, which has previously been used against Isis and extremist political groups, is part of the government operation against a coalition ranging from anti-vaccine and anti-5G activists to hard-right libertarians, who have been claiming that the pandemic threat is bogus and organising protests against lockdowns.

What were fringe rumours not so long ago, security forces have said, are now reaching a global online audience of millions through organised communications networks. There have been a spate of attacks on telephone masts amid claims that 5G is spreading the virus. The largest number, by far, has been in the UK with 62 masts being set on fire. The next highest has been in the Netherlands with 20, with smaller numbers in Ireland, Belgium, Cyprus and Sweden.

The 77th Brigade was set up in 2015 and named after the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade, a British and Indian force also known as the Chindits, which carried out guerrilla warfare under General Orde Wingate against the Japanese in the Second World War.

According to Whitehall officials, service personnel from the brigade have been analysing coronavirus propaganda being disseminated and advising government departments on how to counter it. Officials have noted that international contacts between the activists have included those in the UK and US.

Security officials said they were wary of providing publicity for the activist groups. One said: “There’s a balance to be struck on this. What we can say is that we have seen a steady growth in the spread of this misinformation and consequent physical acts like the mast attacks.

“People are going through a traumatic time, they are worried about the future, their health, their jobs and a few are ready to clutch at a conspiracy narrative. They may get drawn to these theories and there are those keen to exploit this. We have state-sponsored actors, but also private groups which are capable of promoting their views. Measures are in place by media companies, but it’s not easy and some of these groups are looking at ways to circumvent them.”

Security officials also said they hope that the decline in the rate of coronavirus infections in this country, and accompanying easing of restrictions, will make it more difficult for the conspiracy activists to get traction.

But there is also apprehension that attempts will be made to exploit the economic hardships people are likely to face from the contagion. Reactions to stricter measures and further local lockdowns being implemented amid a second wave are also a cause for concern.

In the US, some anti-vax groups are now promoting theories linking coronavirus to the 5G network. One of the most prominent, called Children’s Health Defence (CHD), has links to Andrew Wakefield, the British paediatrician who played a key role in triggering opposition to vaccination with his claim in 1998 that there were links between MMR vaccine and autism. Wakefield, who was struck off the UK medical register, now lives in America and met Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida ahead of his 2016 election. The president, who recently suggested disinfectant could be an antidote to Covid-19 before claiming his comment had been sarcastic, has expressed scepticism over vaccination in the past.

The World Health Organisation now lists 5G at the top of its coronavirus mythbusters page. The European Commission has been alarmed enough to state on its website that “there is no connection between 5G and Covid-19”, and that there is “no evidence that 5G is harmful to peoples’ health”.

Some of the disinformation on the contagion, western security officials have said, has come from Kremlin-owned broadcasters and a number of other Russian and Chinese government-controlled websites. But there is also evidence that that the conspiracy theorists have become adept at promoting their theories through social media.

The activist groups have been quick to seize on Covid-19 scepticism expressed by celebrities and influencers, which increases their online traffic. Actor Woody Harrelson and boxer Amir Khan are among those to have made claims linked to 5G conspiracies on social media, while TV presenter Amanda Holmes posted a link to an anti-5G petition, before deleting it. Her representatives said the post had been an accident.

Piers Corbyn, the brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, was among 19 people arrested earlier this month at Hyde Park in London as they took part in anti-lockdown protests that included placards saying “anti-vaxxers deserves a voice” and “freedom from fear”. He declared that the pandemic was a “pack of lies to brainwash you and keep you in order”, “vaccination is not necessary” and that “5G towers will be installed everywhere”, adding: “5G enhances anyone who’s got illness from Covid, so they work together.”

Social media companies like Facebook and YouTube stress that they are trying to block material, but the sites are struggling to keep up with the sheer flood of conspiracy tales. Earlier this month, for example, a video called “Plandemic” was taken down by Facebook and YouTube, but by then it had already attracted millions of views.

Sites linked to foreign states have played a part in spreading the propaganda. The European Union, in a report published on its EUvsDisinfo site, logged 39 Russian-sponsored claims that Covid-19 was created in the US and 17 claims that it was a secret plan by the global elite to exert mass control.

The Chinese government is pushing the company Huawei to be part of the telecommunications network in a number of countries, including Britain, and the conspiracy theories emanating from China do not tend to link 5G to the contagion. They have focused, instead, on claiming that Covid-19 had either been placed in Wuhan by the US or that it originated in Europe or in the Americas. One theory being pushed recently is that it was produced in the US germ research laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland.