Miguel Afonso Caetano<p>"The UK government is secretly paying foreign YouTube stars to publish “propaganda” videos, Declassified can reveal.</p><p>A three-year investigation has found that online influencers are made to sign legal contracts banning them from disclosing the government’s involvement.</p><p>Whitehall officials give “feedback” on each video before the influencers are allowed to publish them. </p><p>The work is coordinated by a London-based media agency, Zinc Network Ltd, on behalf of the Foreign Office in a deal worth nearly £10m of public money. </p><p>Co-founded by a former Conservative Party spin doctor, the company has won lucrative contracts from the UK, US and Australian governments, becoming a major player in Western influence operations.</p><p>Zinc has previously been exposed for secretly setting up Muslim news platforms on Facebook as part of the government’s counter-extremism Prevent strategy.</p><p>But the company’s foreign influence tactics can now be exposed thanks to whistleblowers, leaked documents, Freedom of Information disclosures and analysis of dozens of LinkedIn profiles."</p><p><a href="https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-government-secretly-paid-foreign-youtube-stars-for-propaganda/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">declassifieduk.org/uk-governme</span><span class="invisible">nt-secretly-paid-foreign-youtube-stars-for-propaganda/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/UK" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>UK</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/YouTube" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>YouTube</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/SocialMedia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SocialMedia</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Propaganda" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Propaganda</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Disinformation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Disinformation</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Influencers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Influencers</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/MediaManipulation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MediaManipulation</span></a></p>