Counter disinformation unit
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Search complete. 5 mentions across 5 episodes found for "Counter disinformation unit".
Sep 28, 2026
Chris MartensonHOST
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said it would not police domestic political dissent.
Chris MartensonHOST
Big Brother watch director Silky Carlo said units including the Counter Disinformation Unit and the Ministry of Defense's 77th Brigade have already flagged lawful speech by Britons.
Chris MartensonHOST
Documents showed the 77th Brigade tracking identifiable accounts during COVID.
Chris MartensonHOST
Meanwhile, ministers are considering replacing the £180 BBC licence fee with an £11 per month home internet levy on every broadband household.
Mike RobinsonHOST
That isn't going to happen, in my opinion.
Mike RobinsonHOST
But they also highlight that the Counter Disinformation Unit, the Rapid Response Unit, RICU and the 77 Brigade all flagged lawful speech by MPs, journalists and campaigners in previous years.
Mike RobinsonHOST
And they also want to know how this new body relates to the National Security Online Information Team, which they also point out has strayed into policing lawful domestic speech.
Mike RobinsonHOST
And as I said already, I would argue that this is a dangerous escalation of what we've seen up until now.
Fraser MyersHOST
Yeah.
Tom SlaterHOST
So during COVID, Big Brother Watch did a great report on this, quite alarming report, where these- Um, again, these organizations within government, the Counter Disinformation Unit, as well as something called the Rapid Response Unit, I think now stood down
Fraser MyersHOST
And then also the 77th Brigade-
Tom SlaterHOST
Yes
David MeyerHOST
The UK already has an organisation that supposedly does what this new National Centre for Information Defence is going to do.
David MeyerHOST
It's called the National Security Online Information Team, and it was actually set up in 2019 under a different name, the Counter Disinformation Unit.
David MeyerHOST
And again, the mission was quite similar, but it quickly became deeply involved in trying to push back against false online narratives about the COVID pandemic.
David MeyerHOST
And in doing so, it really infuriated an awful lot of people, including free expression campaigners at organizations like Big Brother Watch.
Alicia KearnsGUEST
You've got the National Security Online Information Team, which was sat in DSIT, which obviously has been now scrapped, so I don't know where that sits.
Alicia KearnsGUEST
But that used to literally be called the Counter Disinformation Unit.
Alicia KearnsGUEST
Its sole job was to be focused solely on this.
Alicia KearnsGUEST
Then you've got 77th Brigade and the MOD.