Coronavirus: GCHQ launches war against Russian anti-vaccine propaganda

State-sponsored disinformation campaigns are being blocked and agents locked out of their accounts

Vaccine
(Image credit: Getty Images)

UK intelligence agents are reportedly using techniques developed to eliminate terrorist propaganda in a fresh push to prevent the spread of Russian anti-vaccine disinformation.

“It is the latest move by cyberagents to counter activity linked to Moscow whose aim is to exploit the pandemic in order to undermine the West and boost Russian interests,” The Times reports.

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Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.