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Public service journalism. Telling tales on Big Tech. Founders of @FBoversight. Sign up to our free newsletter at https://t.co/ycBrQc093b
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Dec 13, 2023 12 tweets 4 min read
🚨NEW: Report from @JointCtteNSS warns the UK is facing "high risk of catastrophic ransomware attack" from foreign actors, like Russia, China & North Korea.

This comes a week after UK govt finally admitted to Russian interference in British politics. 🧵/1 Image 2/The report states that @ukhomeoffice is not fit or prepared to see off these attacks from foreign actors.

It adds that"majority of ransomware attacks against the UK are from Russian-speaking perpetrators but this is not a straightforward state threat."
committees.parliament.uk/publications/4…
Jun 1, 2023 5 tweets 3 min read
🚨👀🚨 "Ukraine targeted Alexander Lebedev as part of a wave of sanctions against individuals supportive of Russia’s war, placing greater scrutiny on the oligarch’s links to the UK government". @pcaruanagalizia @tortoise #RussiaReport

tortoisemedia.com/2023/06/01/eve…
Jun 1, 2023 5 tweets 3 min read
4pm today is the deadline for the Cabinet Office to hand over Boris Johnson’s unredacted 24 notebooks and WhatsApps to the COVID public inquiry.

theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/m… So far, the Cabinet Office has insisted that any “irrelevant” material should be redacted, in order to protect policy-forming and privacy.

The public is left wondering: "What are they trying to hide?"
May 30, 2023 6 tweets 3 min read
🔴 The Cabinet Office could take unprecedented action to prevent Boris Johnson’s unredacted diaries and WhatsApp messages from being handed over to the official Covid inquiry

What is there to hide?

theguardian.com/politics/2023/… We are so convinced of the need for transparency and accountability in the handling of official business that in March 2022 we went to court to challenge the government's use of disappearing #WhatsApp & text messages.
May 29, 2023 7 tweets 3 min read
🚨🚨🚨 NHS data breach: NHS trusts are sharing intimate details about patients’ medical conditions, appointments and treatments with Facebook without consent and despite promising never to do so. theguardian.com/society/2023/m… An astounding investigation by @shanti_das @ObserverUK has revealed how a covert tracking tool in the websites of 20 NHS trusts has for years collected browsing information and shared it with Meta, in a major breach of NHS patients'privacy. Image
Mar 28, 2023 14 tweets 7 min read
🔴NEW: Lack of transparency over police forces' covert use of predictive policing software raises concerns about human rights abuses:

@allthecitizens/@BylineTimes have discovered over £5m in government work issued to social media monitoring firm Dataminr. The UK gov is deploying software used to shut down BLM protests in the US.

Research released today in @SageJournals, by @dreleanordrage / @fedefrabetti1 shows how the software is more likely to flag left wing, black and brown crowds as potential threats:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01…
Mar 21, 2023 8 tweets 5 min read
🔴 Today we'll be closely monitoring the @CommonsDCMS committee's grilling of @DSIT officials about the government’s Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU), launched in 2019 to counter disinformation in elections and during the pandemic.
parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/8a… @CommonsDCMS @DsiT Ironically, the CDU's activities are wrapped in secrecy, on the grounds of a need to protect the government’s “relationship with social media platforms”, as well as a desire to “preserve a ‘safe space' around ministers and government officials”
civilserviceworld.com/in-depth/artic…
Mar 16, 2023 7 tweets 4 min read
🔴 BREAKING

The Uk has been downgraded by @CIVICUSMonitor, an annual index of civic freedoms in 197 countries, as a result of the government’s “increasingly authoritarian” drive to impose restrictive and punitive laws on public protests
theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/m… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… @CIVICUSMonitor Here at @allthecitizens we have been sounding the alarm for years

Mar 9, 2023 12 tweets 5 min read
We believe the latest Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, UK’s post-Brexit replacement for Europe’s GDPR data regime, introduced yesterday by @michelledonelan, is worse than the previous one and puts data rights at severe risk.

Here’s why🧵#DPDIBill Here we explained how the previous version was riddled with thorny issues and a business-centric approach that neglects data privacy and transparency

Mar 7, 2023 19 tweets 8 min read
🚨 NEW 🚨

Requesting CCTV footage is just one of the many data rights the Uk government is threatening to destroy with its Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.

If you agree with us that data rights are human rights, join the fight.

A short film and a thread 👇 The Government is planning to lay out new proposals for data protection, with reports indicating that the Data Protection and Digital Reform Bill, currently before Parliament, is about to be stalled during this Parliamentary session.
Mar 7, 2023 6 tweets 4 min read
With other 25 civil society organisations, we have signed this open letter to @michelledonelan asking the gov to scrap the Data Protection and Digital information Bill (DPDI)

We have serious concerns that DPDI will seriously weaken data protection rights in the UK, and harm… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… @michelledonelan The most recent version of the Bill contained many concerning and ill-considered proposals which endanger UK residents and UK data protection.

@libertyhq @OpenRightsGroup @privacyint @BigBrotherWatch @keepnhspublic @publiclawprojct
Mar 3, 2023 19 tweets 6 min read
🔴NEW: 9 Conservative Treasurers have Donated £34.5 Million to the Party, analysis reveals.

Recently appointed Conservative Party Treasurer, Graham Edwards, donated a huge £500,000 to the Central Party around the time of his appointment, Electoral Commission figures reveal. He’s the latest in a string of Treasurers to have made large cash donations, often near the time of their appointment.

The last 9 treasurers have, since records began, donated nearly £34.5 million to the Conservatives.
Mar 1, 2023 9 tweets 4 min read
On 9 September 2019, @allthecitizens emailed the Cabinet press office asking if special advisers within No.10 were using Whatsapp or Signal to conduct government business.
What followed was a masterclass in obfuscation and stonewalling. ⬇️ the-citizens.com/2021/09/the-my… The original request was denied on the grounds that it would “exceed costs” to retrieve the information, the second was deemed “invalid”. Subsequent requests were refused on the basis that ministries did not hold the information and that disclosure would present a security risk.
Feb 24, 2023 5 tweets 5 min read
We went on @r_borisovich's #KleptoTours this week.

Tour took us all around London showing oligarch-owned properties, with brilliant speakers highlighting how London services Russia's & world's #dirtymoney💸

@margarethodge hopped on the bus to highlight the scale of problem 👇 @r_borisovich @margarethodge On the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we look at why tackling Russian #dirtymoney is paramount.

Here is @margarethodge + cross-party group of MPs explaining why this matters
Feb 20, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
God save us from Boris Johnson becoming PM again.

Your thoughts? Under Boris Johnson, the Tories covered up the damning findings of the Russia report and dodged questions about their Russian benefactors
the-citizens.com/2022/02/conser…
Feb 15, 2023 10 tweets 6 min read
💣 Extraordinary story exposing a team of Israeli hackers-for-hire who meddled in over 30 elections via social media accounts ⁦@guardian⁩ ⁦@carolecadwallatheguardian.com/world/2023/feb… @guardian @carolecadwalla "When Team Jorge worked covertly on the Nigerian presidential race in 2015 it did so alongside Cambridge Analytica" @FbdnStories
Feb 13, 2023 8 tweets 6 min read
🔴 Yesterday's @Channel4News Dispatches shows how MI5 refused to investigate Russian donations even when Sergei Cristo asked them to…

We have the whole story. Help us tell it & contribute to our new investigative podcast here: donorbox.org/the-real-russi… @Channel4News As @C4Dispatches makes clear, the Kremlin managed to infiltrate the Tory Party at its highest levels via the creation of the Conservative Friends of Russia, a lobbying group engineered to act against the Uk national interests. No one stopped them. Why?
Jan 30, 2023 14 tweets 12 min read
🚨 Help us expose the truth behind the #RussiaReport cover-up! We plan to tell the story of how the Kremlin captured the British establishment in a new podcast series. But we need your help…

Make your contributions here 🙏: the-citizens.com/2023/01/new-ci…
2 yrs ago, #RussiaReport found that Russian interference in our elections was real. How did the Kremlin become so entwined in British politics? Why did the govt turn a blind eye?

@carolecadwalla @allthecitizens are on a mission to find out. Help us.
the-citizens.com/2023/01/new-ci…
Jan 25, 2023 5 tweets 5 min read
🔴 Why has the government refused to investigate Kremlin interference in UK politics, @carolecadwalla asks.

Our podcast will expose the untold story behind the #RussiaReport cover-up, but we need your donations and support to do it 👇
the-citizens.com/2023/01/new-ci… ‘The only investigation that’s been done… has been by a handful of investigative journalists’

@carolecadwalla on how the security apparatus and intelligence services failed to investigate Kremlin interference in our democracy.
Jan 23, 2023 6 tweets 5 min read
The #RussiaReport called for a full investigation into Kremlin interference in British politics. The govt refused. Why?

With the help of a whistleblower from the Conservative Party & expert witnesses we intend to expose the truth, but we need your help
the-citizens.com/2023/01/new-ci… This is the story of a cover-up. One that goes to the highest level of the British state.

With @carolecadwalla we will tell the full story of how the Kremlin captured the British establishment and how the authorities turned a blind eye

Jan 22, 2023 8 tweets 5 min read
🚨 NEW 🚨

Help us expose the truth behind the #RussiaReport cover-up!

With @carolecadwalla we are planning to tell the story of how the Kremlin captured the British establishment in a new podcast series.

But we need your help … DONATE ⬇️🙏
the-citizens.com/2023/01/new-ci… The importance of investigating Russian interference can’t be understated. This week the European Court of Human Rights said our Russia legal case can proceed to next stage

#RussiaReport