Army unit takes war to social media

The British Army is taking the battle against the enemy to social media by setting up a dedicated battalion to wage “information warfare” over the web.
A 1,500-strong unit, dubbed the “77th battalion” will include soldiers skilled in using social media and psychology, who will be trained in “manipulation through social media” before formally launching on April 1.
The Army hopes the brigade will help to influence the opinions and behaviour of the enemy and local populations. About half of the soldiers are reservists, with the rest recruited from the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force (RAF).
The brigade will focus on ‘unconventional’ non-lethal military methods such as “shaping behaviours through the use of dynamic narratives” to meet “the challenges of modern conflict and warfare”, according to the Army.
As well as explicitly learning from counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan, the launch of 77th battalion is also seen as a reaction to methods deployed by Islamic State, Russia, North Korea and other nations or groups.
It is part of a wider “Army 2020” plan to slash the size of the regular Army from 91,600 in 2013 to 82,000 regular troops by 2017 and recruit at least 11,000 reserve soldiers to help meet the shortfall.

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