Scottish National Party politician Douglas Chapman has claimed that 77th Brigade are “attacking and undermining” people in Scotland.

Essentially, it is being claimed that the British Army are engaged in operations online against British citizens, there has however been no proof offered that this is actually happening.

In a now deleted Tweet, Douglas Chapman MP posted:

77th Brigade specialise in “non-lethal” forms of psychological warfare, using social media including Facebook and Twitter to fight with information in response to external factors, like Russian misinformation.

Their target is Russian propaganda, propaganda that is notably very active around NATO troops deployed to the Baltics alleging that the soldiers there are criminals and rapists. The point of units like 77th Brigade is to counter this kind of threat.

Russia is at the forefront of information warfare in the modern age, utilising an array of organisations and strategies to spread disinformation to further national strategy but how are they doing it?

The flood of inaccurate stories is so strong that both NATO and the European Union have established special offices to identify and refute disinformation.

The most effective instrument in this effort appears to be Russia Today. The organisation has been frequently described as a propaganda outlet for the Russian government and media regulator Ofcom has repeatedly found RT to have breached rules on impartiality, and of broadcasting “materially misleading” content.

In the paper ‘Computational Propaganda in Russia: The Origins of Digital Misinformation’ Sergey Sanovich argues that the digital propaganda of the Russian government seeks to insulate Putin’s leadership from any domestic challengers and aid in his foreign policy ventures, which increasingly sets Russian interests off against the West.

“It’s argued that Russia could be on a mission to restore its Soviet or imperial glory and to prevent liberal democratic values from taking root in the Russian political system. 

Yet the tools used are precisely the ones developed in the most internationally competitive part of the Russian economy that emerged during the liberal 1990s and (until recently) was not subject to heavy-handed interventions by the government: the online media and tech sector.”

The paper concludes that the fact that bots and trolls thrive in the low-trust, anything goes, prove-it-on-the-spot environment. People share sensational and alarmist headlines without much verification more often on social media than any other medium.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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35 COMMENTS

  1. Well some news outlet really needs to ask him for proof then and then publicly berate him when he reveals he just felt it in his bones… Why are politicians allowed to get away with blatant misinformation and lies?

      • Indeed, I was alluding to those. Particularly Boris as Trump is technically out of our remit, although our correspondents could do more to call him out on the bizarre claims he makes.

        In fact I would like to see a law brought in for the UK which bans politicians from telling outright lies that they full well know are untrue. There would have to be some leeway in order to protect people from genuine mistakes or potentially during wartime etc but knowingly lying should be an offence if you are in public office or are campaigning to be in public office etc. Perhaps the punishment should be to make a public statement (approved by the court) admitting that you lied followed by some sort of community service. For repeat offenders it should be jail time for subverting democracy.

    • I think I disagree. Politicians of all stripes have been bending the truth since the beginning of politics. The first (I think) US war against Spain was based on a False Flag claim backed up by an unwitting media, over the never proven claim the Spanish attacked a US ship.

      Bill Clinton didn’t have “sexual relations” with Monika Lewinski and only “fessed” up years later during a national prayer breakfast.(he still won the election)

      Tony Blair, a highly intelligent and experienced QC somehow didn’t realise the “dodgy dossier” wasn’t kosher and knew nothing about anything: “honest guv”.

      Obama claimed he managed to raise US oil production but in reality the lands he was responsible for reported massive drops, the growth having been accomplished by private enterprise.

      Then there was the cover-up over the abandonment of Ambassador Stevens to be killed in a coordinated terrorist attack which the US administration (H. Clinton and Obama) claimed was a spontaneous act of civil unrest – it wasn’t they just let the diplomatic mission get destroyed.

      So what’s the difference? The media basically backed Clinton, Blair and Obama but not Trump or Boris. The facts have been curated for us by a media bias that gently pushes messages sympathetic to the aforementioned, hundreds of times every day, via hundreds of media outlets with the same concerned facial expressions, the same serious tones of voice and the same body language.

      Consider how Boris went from a clownish, somewhat amusing but intelligent London mayor in 2012 to a lying, untrustworthy pariah in 2019 – all in a matter of months during the conservatives’ election process. One would be forgiven for thinking the media had aligned with certain political elements to oppose him.

      All politicians lie because they’re all human. And human beings lie. We exaggerate, we forget, we overstate our cases, sometime we deceive sometimes we hide the truth. Sometimes we just get it wrong. Sometimes we just joke but its still untruth. None of us are good – not one. Even our “righteous” deeds are soaked in self interest and aggrandisement. That’s who we are. It cannot be avoided only minimised.

      Some politicians get less scrutiny than others because their lies are less offensive to those making the news. And some people, like Trump, are just too working-class, too unsophisticated, too false-tan, for the media bosses who can’t stand someone they consider so inferior to themselves being their commander-in-chief. Its little more than snobbery and class warfare. And the rich, liberal, coastal Americans don’t like average Joe being in charge.

      • The fact that we lie is irrelevant. People in public office should not lie. People running for public office should not lie to get votes. Simple. Many people are homophobic, racist and sexist. We should demand more of our politicians. Lots of people are corrupt yet we have laws to help prevent corrupt politicians.

        Also claiming that we should do nothing about it because politicians have lied in the past is a very odd argument.

        • Unfortunately things are not that black and white. It is the shades of grey that cause the problems. Look at the Brexit vote. Simple vote, leave or remain in the eu. Majority votes leave, cue endless hair splitting by politicians who do not want to respect the vote. What did they mean by leave? Do they want a hard leave or soft leave? Etc.

          Lying is not so much the issue, it’s the pretence of honour and honesty that causes problems. When people believe politicians act with integrity and honesty is when things start to go south.

          On a separate note, I find it amusing that the UK (quite rightly) is desperate to counter russian propaganda yet at the same time does nothing to call out liberal propaganda in this country. When Russia becomes the voice of reason regarding homosexuality due to it being a liberal subject on which debate or different opinions are not allowed, it’s the height of ludicrousy, you are handing them a propaganda victory on a plate and legitimizing a criminal regime. In the same vein, Trump is right to call out the liberal bias In the press, but this seems to be being used to legitimise his actions, both good and bad. If the press in the West was much more balanced and less bias it would ironically allow for greater critique of Trumps policies. As it is, he can (quite rightly) moan about the fanatical bias towards him in the press but then use this as a smokescreen to hide behind when he does actions that do not benefit us citizens.
          Lastly, if the bbc and government had not been so bias against brexit, it would have made the pieces of pro brexit bias come under much greater scrutiny and I believe a much healthier debate around brexit would have ensued. As it was the government and BBC screamed a load of anti brexit lies, making the screaming pro brexit lies seem like a reason able counter balance against the state. I would be very interested to hear how the vote would have gone down if the bbc and government remained truly impartial.

          • Indeed. Many people voted to leave based on lies (350 million per week) and misinformation (lies about EU rules etc) however other votes were based on opinion. So yes lies are absolutely black and white. You can verify this so it is pretty simple. However opinions are the grey area. I am not suggesting politicians be punished by law for having an incorrect opinion, that would be dumb and unworkable. It is however very simple to prove someone is outright lying. I mean Boris recently claimed EU rules were hampering British kipper suppliers. He was lying and had to know he was lying. The law was a British law not an EU one. He should have been hung out to dry for that but he was not. Many people now think that the EU are responsible for the issue and they are not. That should not be allowed to happen it is pretty simple. Now if there was a law about it then Boris could be on TV explaining why he lied and people would be armed with actual facts rather than lies. Perhaps then we would not have voted to leave…

            As for the vote itself, I agree that is tricky. Many people voted to leave at any cost, others voted to leave as they were told we would easily get a deal with out a problem. So people voted to leave on various terms and that was not on the voting paper. However as I said opinions are not what is in question here. Verifiable facts are what can easily be fixed.

          • You do understand the 350 million pound was not a lie and has even been proved in court it was not a lie. In 2015, every-week we gave the EU 379 Million a week of which 1/3 we got back in the rebate however that money still went off to Brussels, it is possible that the public would never see that tax money again. We didn’t vote for a deal we voted to leave

  2. Oh dear another loopy SNP idiot engaging in a project fear to arouse the Clans .
    I dont know why Defence Journal gives coverage to noise like this unless it has ambitions to market a weekly Comic Book featuring Jock Desperate Dan waving his cudgel at the devious English, Would be amusing I suppose

    • I guess UKDJ is exposing stupidity for what it is.

      If it is exposed it can then be challenged, rather than left to continue unchecked.

    • why would you not think this is the case the ukgov hub in edinburgh is staffed with 3000 civil servants many engaged on the rebuttal of posts shoiwing the true state of the scottish economy one only has to examine the posts on twitter from obvious troll or bot accounts spouting unionist propoganda!!

  3. You don’t need proof to make wild accusations these days. Social media is dragging society backwards in some ways.
    Politicians are the utter pits.

    • You are right to point out the quality of the politicians ,on all sides they are the worst lot we have ever had, suppose they will be pointing out next , if they were paid properly we would get better ones.

  4. The only psychological problems developed in Scotland are, I suspect, in the minds of SNP politicians.The next report out will probably suggest that Brexit is threatening the supply of Mars Bars for their fryers.

        • Anyone can run for being an MP… The problem is people vote for parties not for the particular MP. So there are people that will only vote conservative or only vote labour etc. The fact the MP (or even the leader) is a moron is not an issue to those people they will vote for their party no matter what.

          • We have the same in the US , but when you have corrupt thieves running like Hillary Clinton,people just vote for the lesser of two evils. Now the Democrats want to run socialists with free everything who would bankrupt the country with their ideas. I can tell you the average man or woman who works for a living won’t vote for them. Perhaps politics has become so brutal and corrupt the average person doesn’t want to enter the cesspool. I have been asked to run at a local level and said no thank you. Why would I want to make less money ; now granted I wouldn’t be corrupt just to be abused and put my family through hell.

  6. I recommend reading, ‘This Is Not Propaganda’ by Peter Pomarantsev, on the issue of trolls etc of which we also run into on this site regularly.

  8. SNP. Low hanging fruit, I’d be ashamed of them if I were Scottish and I feel sorry for the Scottish people who are dealt a disservice by these muppets

  9. Don’t suppose 77th Brigade are allowed to sue for slander, so easy target by SNP.
    In other news from the SNP, the earth is flat, the moon is made of cheese, mobile phones are cooking your brain, 9/11 didn’t happen, etc etc ?‍♂️

    How about everybody on here flagging this to Twitter as being false news?…

    • How very dare you, the moon IS made of cheese! I saw a very good documentary with those great in-depth reporters Wallace & Gromit going there to research it.
      What chills me is the way the BBC has gone from world leading trusted(but never perfect) to actively pushing its own narrow agenda in so many areas. And we have to pay for the privilege of their bias.

  10. So this guy should be hauled before parliament to account for himself and expelled if found guilty

    Unfortunately it is individuals like this person who are really undermining democracy and responsible for the public losing trust in politicians

    • The lunatics now have the keys to the front gate. It is only a matter of time before they overrun the compound. The handcart to hell is now taking bookings. One way obviously. Sleep well all.

  11. If you think that the British security services aren’t targeting the independence movement you’re astonishingly naive.

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