British Army Creates Facebook Team

According to The Guardian, the British Army began selecting soldiers with journalist skills for a special team which will be responsible for controlling information on social media. Responsibilities of the 77th Brigade, which will formally come into being in April 2015, will include psychological operations, tracking and coordination of narratives on Facebook, Twitter and other social media as well as non-lethal warfare.

The move of the British government can be seen as a response to several successful political campaigns in social media, including annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the search for recruits by Islamic extremists through the Internet. Similar teams are already successfully functioning in both the Israeli and US armies.