U.K. secretly paid YouTube influencers for propaganda – report

The British government funded covert campaigns across Europe via Zinc Network to shape public opinion and affect elections, Declassified UK has found.

The UK Foreign Office gave millions of pounds to a media contractor to secretly shape public opinion in foreign countries, Declassified UK has reported. The agency, Zinc Network, is believed to have received nearly £10 million ($13 million) to recruit influencers across Europe.

Zinc is a London-based company that pays YouTubers and internet personalities in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics to produce political content. While the company says it is committed to transparency, the creators it employs are bound by strict non-disclosure agreements not to disclose ties to the British government.

Former employees have described the operation as “state propaganda.” One told Declassified that the relationship between Zinc and the influencers was “extremely exploitative.”

Another claimed that Zinc had interfered in Slovakia’s 2023 elections by targeting young voters with influencer content designed to boost turnout for Progressive Slovakia, a pro-European party. The vote was ultimately won by Robert Fico’s Smer party, which has advocated maintaining friendly relations with Russia and draws support from older voters.

Zinc had previously been exposed for running covert Muslim news platforms. In 2021, it was also reportedly looking to recruit comedians and YouTubers to run psyop campaigns in the Baltics to shift the opinions of Russian-speaking communities.

Aside from the UK government, the company has also received millions in funding from the US, as well as from the Belgian government, according to public documents.

The full scale of Zinc’s operations is unclear as the Foreign Office has only partially disclosed its contracts with the company, despite repeatedly being ordered to do so by the UK’s Information Commissioner.

The UK government has defended the operation as a way to “counter disinformation” and “champion truth and democratic values.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s security services have recently accused several British institutions, including the British Council and Oxford Russia Fund, of running covert campaigns to destabilize Russian society and promote Western agendas.