The UK goes BIG on CENSORSHIP
Britain’s AI Spy Machine Gears Up for the Subsequent Wave of Censorship
AI-driven «disinformation» platform allows UK authorities to trace social media posts, together with political views.
Cindy Harper
Reclaim the Internet
2/24/25
The UK authorities is urgent ahead with an AI-driven mass surveillance initiative, increasing the attain of its controversial disinformation-monitoring equipment. The Nationwide Safety On-line Data Crew (NSOIT), previously the Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU), is behind the event of the Counter Disinformation Knowledge Platform (CDDP), a system designed to scan social media for what it deems “regarding” content material. The mission, similar to a lot of what the present UK authorities is doing, raises critical issues concerning the encroachment of state censorship and surveillance on lawful speech.
NSOIT gained notoriety for its function in monitoring and flagging critics of presidency pandemic insurance policies as sources of “misinformation.” Now, with the CDDP, this effort is being supercharged with AI, granting the federal government an unprecedented functionality to sift by means of huge quantities of public discourse and take “motion” in opposition to flagged content material.
A government-issued privateness discover from 2023 acknowledged that the CDDP would accumulate and analyze social media posts, together with usernames, political views, and different private information. It said, “To assist us analyze the disinformation threats on-line, we accumulate content material from publicly out there social media platforms… the content material we assessment might embody the names and opinions of people.” This stage of scrutiny, even into “particular classes” of private information, highlights the potential for overreach.
In line with The Telegraph, the Division for Science, Innovation, and Expertise (DSIT) not too long ago allotted £2.3 million to College AI to assemble the monitoring software program, which is purportedly meant to detect “international interference” and analyze on-line narratives.
Nevertheless, issues have been raised that the AI instrument’s remit could possibly be expanded past nationwide safety issues. Paperwork obtained by means of Freedom of Data (FOI) requests recommend the federal government has left the door open to utilizing the platform for a broad vary of points past its said objective. An government abstract of the mission explicitly states: “Whereas the CDDP has a present nationwide safety focus, the instrument has the power to be pivoted to deal with any precedence space.”
This transfer signifies the entrenchment of a surveillance infrastructure able to focusing on dissent below the guise of combating “disinformation.”
Over the previous three years, the federal government has spent greater than £5.3 million on disinformation-monitoring initiatives, together with efforts to counter so-called “anti-vax rhetoric” and posts questioning COVID-19 insurance policies.
Among the many flagged content material have been discussions on various most cancers remedies, masks mandates, and the 5G community. Moreover, authorities paperwork revealed concern over social media posts supporting using hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 therapy, regardless of an Oxford College research later confirming its effectiveness in lowering signs.
The CDDP’s improvement has attracted criticism from free speech advocates, who argue that it represents an escalation in state-backed censorship. US Vice President JD Vance not too long ago condemned European governments on the Munich Safety Convention, warning that elementary liberties, together with free expression, have been below menace. Lord Younger of the Free Speech Union additionally expressed alarm, calling the enlargement of this surveillance equipment “politically unwise.”
He identified that the AI system could be scrutinizing content material on American-owned platforms, making it more likely to provoke a backlash from the US, significantly given the pro-free speech stance of figures like Elon Musk and the Trump-Vance administration.
The federal government insists that the AI-driven surveillance instrument doesn’t monitor people however as an alternative tracks overarching “themes and traits.”
Nevertheless, earlier FoI requests have revealed that studies have been compiled on particular person commentators, together with mainstream teachers and journalists who merely questioned official insurance policies.
Figures comparable to Dr. Alex de Figueiredo and Prof. Carl Heneghan have been recognized in authorities information for expressing issues about vaccine insurance policies and pandemic responses.
