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  "path": "/post/47371689",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-15T10:43:15.000Z",
  "site": "https://lemmy.ml",
  "tags": [
    "World News",
    "GlacialTurtle",
    "worldnews",
    "10 comments",
    "https://www.declassifieduk.org/britains-secret-black-propaganda-operations/",
    "files"
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  "textContent": "submitted by GlacialTurtle to worldnews\n67 points | 10 comments\nhttps://www.declassifieduk.org/britains-secret-black-propaganda-operations/\n\n> The UK government used fake organisations and forged documents to disrupt its enemies and protect its interests amid the Cold War, declassified files show.\n>\n> The information comes in a series of highly sensitive files which were released to the National Archives in London.\n>\n> The files belonged to the Information Research Department (IRD), a clandestine anti-communist propaganda unit which operated in the Foreign Office between 1948 and 1977.\n>\n> Within the IRD there was a highly secretive subdivision named the Special Editorial Unit (SEU), which specialised in the “dark arts” of covert statecraft with assistance from MI6.\n>\n> That involved planning and executing “black” propaganda operations such as the creation of fictitious organisations and the dissemination of forged documents.\n>\n> These “black” operations were designed “to encourage a reaction, incite violence, or foment racial tensions”, according to historian Rory Cormac, whose new book looks into the key figures behind the SEU.\n>\n> The SEU also secretly controlled a series of global news agencies which posed as legitimate media groups and functioned as conduits for British propaganda content.\n>\n> In addition to this, it supplied “independent” journalists with special briefings and pre-written articles which were then published under their own names.\n>\n> The focus of much of this material was on the Soviet Union and its external activities, but other campaigns targeted left-wing and national liberation movements across the developing world.\n>\n> Anti-colonial leaders such as Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Indonesia’s Sukarno, and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah were a frequent focus of British propaganda operations.",
  "title": "Britain’s secret ‘black propaganda’ operations | Top secret files expose how the UK government forged documents, controlled news agencies, and cultivated journalists amid Cold War struggle"
}