UK: Leaked files expose Syria psyops veteran astroturfing BreadTube star to counter Covid restrictio

[mountaineer]

Leaked files expose Syria psyops veteran astroturfing BreadTube star to counter Covid restriction critics
Kit Klarenberg and Max Blumenthal
December 24, 2021

By covertly recruiting popular YouTube influencer Abigail Thorn to counter growing opposition to UK gov’t Covid restrictions, psy-ops pros are bringing home the tactics they honed in the Syrian dirty war.

Leaked documents have revealed a state-sponsored influence operation designed to undermine critics of the British government’s coronavirus policies by astroturfing a prominent founder of the BreadTube clique of “anti-fascist” YouTube influencers.

The project aims to conduct psychological profiling on British citizens dissenting against policies such as mandatory vaccination and lockdowns, then leverage the data to establish a YouTube channel that portrays these critics as dangerous “superspreaders” of “disinformation.”

Designed “to curb the influence of pseudoscience material online, with specific emphasis on Coronavirus-related ‘anti-vaxxing’ sentiment,” the operation is run by the UK’s Royal Institution, and dubbed “Challenging Pseudoscience.”

Its top patron is Charles, the Prince of Wales, next in line to the British throne, who recently hit out at supposed “conspiracy theories” surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. The organization received a substantial cash injection in 2020 from the UK government’s Culture Recovery Fund earmarked for video production. ...

... BreadTube [is] an assortment of left-branded social media influencers that has attracted intense establishment interest for its purported ability “to pop YouTube’s political bubbles to create space for deradicalisation.”

While top BreadTubers are best known for employing memes and theatrical ploys to counter right-wing narratives, they have also dedicated intense energy to attacking the anti-imperialist left as “tankies” engaged in a secret “red-brown alliance” with right-wing extremists.  ...

Full story at The Gray Zone

[mountaineer]

Jack Posobiec
@JackPosobiec
Holy shift
Antifascist ‘BreadTube’ is funded by British intelligence
11:12 AM · Dec 27, 2021


Kyle Becker
@kylenabecker
Replying to @JackPosobiec
Let's crack open the FBI's 'off-the-books' funding and see who they're pulling the strings on. It's a good bet Antifa *and* QAnon, plus 'far right' white supremacist groups are a part of "FBI theater."
11:42 AM · Dec 27, 2021·

[Kamaji]

Anyone want to guess whether the U.S. government is pulling the same sort of psy-ops tricks on us?

[mountaineer]

Anyone want to guess whether the U.S. government is pulling the same sort of psy-ops tricks on us?

I'll guess "more than likely."

[Kamaji]

I'll guess "more than likely."

I'm guessing "almost certainly."