Evidence submitted to the Covid Inquiry by privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch revealed that the government’s counter-disinformation unit frequently monitored the speech of individuals who criticised the government, including academics, journalists, and human rights campaigners during the pandemic.
However, the Inquiry failed to include this evidence in the official report.
Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, compiled the evidence and revealed that she was told by the inquiry that she could not publish the evidence. Carlo said to the Telegraph:
“It is one thing to ignore evidence but then to bury it by not making it public… When we got the Rule 9 request I thought it was a really positive sign.
“But now I feel that it has given the illusion of accountability whilst burying an important part of the record.
“There was a clear case that something went very badly wrong with [misinformation] and disinformation. Our evidence was completely overlooked in the report. It creates a situation where they hide part of the story.”
The Telegraph – Covid inquiry ‘buried evidence’ of lockdown critic surveillance