Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[Bruce Wayne]

Presumably; he said he’d actually ID’d seven NHS staff whose image had been misused.

Hopefully it'll all come out in the wash. It's somewhat surprising though to say the least. Most of the government departments I've had experience with were hardly at the cutting edge digitally, and would have thought sock puppets were something you used to entertain the children during lockdown. Maybe they've come on since then and are more familiar with digital dark arts, but if I was a betting man, I wouldn't suggest these kind of things came from in house at the Department of Health.

 

[tsubaki]

Hopefully it'll all come out in the wash. It's somewhat surprising though to say the least. Most of the government departments I've had experience with were hardly at the cutting edge digitally, and would have thought sock puppets were something you used to entertain the children during lockdown. Maybe they've come on since then and are more familiar with digital dark arts, but if I was a betting man, I wouldn't suggest these kind of things came from in house at the Department of Health.

TBF he did say he’d identified it was a “marketing agency” behind it, though formed of ex-DHSC staff and with only one client.

 

[The Penalty Box Dancer]

Yesterday had a heavy chest all day and a dry cough.

Today - heavy chest still but no cough as of yet but bit of a headache.

Need a kin pint - @peteblue any home delivery?

Have you been out in public much?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

TBF he did say he’d identified it was a “marketing agency” behind it, though formed of ex-DHSC staff and with only one client.

Someone would presumably have to hire that agency though. It's all possible, of course, and hopefully this bloke will reveal his data in time. Just saying that in my dealings with the NHS, BIS and so on, they were stuck on pretty basic aspects of digital, and I can't imagine them even thinking of using sock puppets, bot farms or any of that, much less deploy them.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Hopefully it'll all come out in the wash. It's somewhat surprising though to say the least. Most of the government departments I've had experience with were hardly at the cutting edge digitally, and would have thought sock puppets were something you used to entertain the children during lockdown. Maybe they've come on since then and are more familiar with digital dark arts, but if I was a betting man, I wouldn't suggest these kind of things came from in house at the Department of Health.

Dominic Cummings... Also follow the many aliases of Grant Shapps (Michael Green) online, this Government is well abreast of using the darker side of social media.

 

[Billy Dean]

Dominic Cummings... Also follow the many aliases of Grant Shapps (Michael Green) online, this Government is well abreast of using the darker side of social media.

it's got Cummings written all over it.

 

[tsubaki]

Someone would presumably have to hire that agency though. It's all possible, of course, and hopefully this bloke will reveal his data in time. Just saying that in my dealings with the NHS, BIS and so on, they were stuck on pretty basic aspects of digital, and I can't imagine them even thinking of using sock puppets, bot farms or any of that, much less deploy them.

Indeed, so you then have to ask who might have done this if it’s what the bloke is claiming.

As @NilSatisOptimum says above there are people in government who have considerable form for doing this.

 

[tsubaki]

Aye. Maybe the bloke in question screenshotted their activity or something?

Some of the “nhs_susan” tweets

 

[ramacca]

Dominic Cummings... Also follow the many aliases of Grant Shapps (Michael Green) online, this Government is well abreast of using the darker side of social media.

Spot on. Just as they attempt to 'rubbish' those that speak out against government policies or actions, saying 'they're Labour supporters' to deflect from their announcement politics incompetence.

 

[Disgruntledgoat]

Been picked by a Bristol journalist, who can link the accounts to health department... Mmm, the NHS non political entity.

Ffs they werent even subtle with that dog whistle bio, were they?

 

[Disgruntledgoat]

Some of the “nhs_susan” tweets

Re: the last tweet.

The unborn child will indeed meet its father, albeit infrequently and then probably not at all once he moves on.

 

[Tea_drinker]

All this fraudulent election fixing and public opinion forming that the weird cummings is involved with just really makes me wish Facebook and twitter had never been invented.

 

[Walken]

Indeed, so you then have to ask who might have done this if it’s what the bloke is claiming.

As @NilSatisOptimum says above there are people in government who have considerable form for doing this.

The tories had a bot army in the election as did brexit, they completely falsified their official party twitter account to pretend to be a fact checking account during a live debate (the most amazing thing about that is how little it mattered to the media and the public). Much like when suarez was first accused of racism, I can't be 100 percent he did it right now but they are absolutely 100 percent the type to do it. I'm not even slightly angry at the possibility of it being true as it is so typical and unsurprising of this tory party.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Some of the “nhs_susan” tweets

That last one lol.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Indeed, so you then have to ask who might have done this if it’s what the bloke is claiming.

As @NilSatisOptimum says above there are people in government who have considerable form for doing this.

Oh for sure, the Tories during the election, and probably the referendum, were using these sort of tactics. Undoubtedly, and if it were an electoral issue I wouldn't be at all surprised. If it's being used by departments on operational matters, that not only seems to be a marked change, but is also far more disturbing. I would ordinarily expect the civil service to push back against such silliness, but the bloke suggests that staffers were actively involved.