A high-level Twitter executive with editorial accountability for the Middle East is additionally a part-time British Army officer of their psychological warfare unit, in response to a report.
The Middle East Eye (MEE) claim that Gordon MacMillan, head of editorial for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), additionally serves with the 77th Brigade, a unit arrange in 2015 to be able to discover “non-lethal” methods of waging struggle.
The 77th Brigade is an ‘information warfare’ operation that makes use of social media platforms reminiscent of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to develop “behavioral change” tasks in areas such because the Middle East.
It brings collectively a wide range of army models reminiscent of Media Operations and the 15 Psychological Operations Group. The group, earlier than it was absorbed into the 77th Brigade, deployed commanders within the provision of psychological operations in operational and tactical environments.
Detailing his military background on LinkedIn, MacMillan wrote that he had educated at Sandhurst, the distinguished British army academy and that he is “a reserve officer in the British Army serving in 77th Brigade, which specializes in non-lethal engagement.”
The MEE report that his web page has lately been edited and that every one references to MacMillan’s service with the 77th Brigade have been deleted.
At its launch in entrance of the UK media 4 years in the past, the brand new Brigade was billed as a unit of 1,500 “Facebook warriors,” consisting of each common troopers and reservists. According to the Middle East Eye, in latest months the military has approached British journalists to affix the unit as reservists.
Twitter has responded by insisting that they “encourage all our employees to pursue external interests.” The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) declare that the 77th Brigade has no relationship with Twitter, aside from utilizing it for communication, in response to the MEE.