JAKARTA - British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said it had launched an investigation following news of the country's Army unit monitoring and recording British social media output during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Soldiers from the 77th Army Brigade gathered tweets from British citizens about COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic, forwarding it to the Cabinet Office as part of a wider cross-government effort, to combat misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19, Big Brother Watch claims.
A whistleblower claimed troops were used to spy on the British public, a civil-freedom campaign group said after the investigation.
The ministers previously said the 77th Brigade had been involved in assisting broader government efforts to counter disinformation and misinformation about COVID-19.
Speaking on Monday, Minister Wallace said the unit's counter-disinformation capabilities had been used to assess the UK's disinformation trend.
According to him, the 77th Brigade is meant to act against hostile actors abroad.
"That's not to get involved in setting up, consolidating or even reporting opinions that may be approved or unapproved," Minister Wallace said.
Meanwhile, Conservative Party politician and former cabinet minister David Davis, who according to Big Brother Watch, was monitored as part of a cross-governmental group, called for the matter to be reviewed. Minister Wallace issued a guarantee he had instructed the matter to be investigated.
"Friends may have read this weekend's report about activities carried out by the Army's counter-disinformation unit in the 77th Brigade," he said in Parliament.
"Online disinformation from foreign national actors is a serious threat to the United Kingdom, therefore during the pandemic we collected expertise from... cross-government to monitor disinformation about COVID," he explained.
"The 77th brigade is a joint unit of regular and reserve personnel set up in 2015. The Brigade delivers information activities as part of a broader military effect, against hostile state actors and violent extremist organizations based outside the UK," Minister Wallace said.
"It uses publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to assess the UK's disinformation trend. It is not involved in regulating, supervising or even reporting opinions that may or may not be approved."
Meanwhile, Davis said, "I know him enough (Wallace), so when he told us that he gave instructions and clear guidelines to the Brigade to only monitor foreign powers and extremists, he told the truth."
"However, will he review the matter and ensure that the guidelines have been followed in all cases?" he continued.
Minister Wallace replied, "Yes, I have, and I have instructed that we are not only investigating the story, but indeed my instructions that I issue personally after the visit is made," he said.
Meanwhile, a government spokesman told The Telegraph, "Online disinformation is a serious threat to Britain, which is why during the pandemic we am gathering expertise from the whole government to monitor disinformation about COVID."
"They are not targeting individuals or taking any action that could affect anyone's ability to discuss and debate issues freely," he said.
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