UnHerd – Government censorship unit sees 95% fall in ‘flagged’ online content

Is the tide turning against the censorship-industrial complex? Just weeks after the UK Government confirmed it would no longer fund the Global Disinformation Index, which blacklisted UnHerd, there is fresh evidence that the censorship machine is breaking down.

According to new FOI data, the Government’s secretive Counter-Disinformation Unit (CDU) has drastically reduced its “flagging” of online speech to social media companies by 95%. In 2020 the number of “flags” was 779, meaning that at least three cases of online speech per working day were reported by this government unit to social media companies for removal. But over the next three years, this number fell from 785 in 2021 to just 35 pieces of content were flagged after Big Brother Watch (BBW) launched an investigation into the practice.

Back in 2021, when I first wrote for UnHerd about the CDU, little was known about the cell. Ministers, though, gave us clues. In a parliamentary debate, one said that the CDU’s job was to get so-called disinformation “taken down” and revealed that “in some cases, ministers have engaged directly with social media firms as well to encourage them to remove content that is clearly inappropriate.” Since then the Government has publicly stated that the unit’s focus has turned from Covid to the war in Ukraine, elections and even Operation London Bridge following the death of the Queen. It speaks to the dismal state of free speech in the UK that these statements not only went unchallenged, but in many cases were chastised as not going far enough by the official opposition in Parliament, with Labour calling for the unit to be used to police online discourse and debate regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict.

We now know that the mechanism for this extra-legal censorship was a formal relationship between the CDU and many of the major social media firms known as “trusted flagger status”. This is a hotline between civil servants and social media companies, meaning CDU “flags” prompting the removal of expression online were put to the front of the queue. But despite the free speech implications, the Government refused to reveal any information about the work of the unit, even obscuring the release of information about its resources — making it even more secretive than the intelligence agencies.

Less censorship is of course good news for free speech in the UK. However, the rebranded unit, now called the National Security Online Information Team, is now working with limited transparency on disinformation around the general election. While little is known about this rebrand or whether it makes a material difference to the unit’s work, it is clear that the ability to flag online speech and lean on platforms to remove it remains. This leaves the Government with a potent tool, which could be used to materially shape online discourse in the hands of the next government.

While the spectre of the censorship-industrial complex still looms, this episode shows that vociferously standing up for free speech can bring results. The wider danger is that extra-legal censorship legitimised by fears about disinformation has now been normalised. In the UK, our Ministry of Truth is less active but still operating. As ever the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

While the spectre of the censorship-industrial complex still looms, this episode shows that vociferously standing up for free speech can bring results. The wider danger is that extra-legal censorship legitimised by fears about disinformation has now been normalised. In the UK, our Ministry of Truth is less active but still operating. As ever the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

– Mark Johnson
Advocacy Manager

UnHerd – Government censorship unit sees 95% fall in ‘flagged’ online content

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