The British Army has decided to create a new battalion of soldiers to fight Britain’s enemies on the modern front: social media. These new online soldiers will form the 77th Brigade and will engage in psychological warfare on social networking website such as Facebook where they will attempt to influence the opinions of people in various parts of the world.
The British army is creating a new battalion of online soldiers in the form of the 77th Brigade. Hundreds of recruits will make up the division and will engage in “non-lethal warfare” on Mark Zuckerberg’s social network from April. The 77th Brigade will engage in psyops (psychological operations) to try to influence the opinions of civilians in certain parts of the world, as well looking to change the behavior of those engaged in various forms of warfare. The activities of groups such as ISIS (Islamic State) have shown the importance of the internet in general, but social networks in particular, to spreading ideas, messages and propaganda, and this is what the army is looking to manage.