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Russia Today
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Soft power, hard cash: How the UK secretly buys influencers
There is something profoundly grotesque about a government that funds 'freedom campaigns' through secret payments to social media stars, complete with non-disclosure agreements forbidding them to reveal who's really pulling the strings. Yet that's precisely what Britain's Foreign Office has been caught doing. A recent investigation by Declassified UK revealed that the UK government covertly paid dozens of foreign YouTube influencers to promote messages aligned with British foreign policy – under the familiar, pious banners of 'democracy support' and 'combating disinformation.' Of course, those slogans sound wholesome enough. Who wouldn't be in favour of democracy or against lies online? But this framing is the point: it launders raw geopolitical interests into the comforting language of values. In reality, this is simply propaganda. Slick, decentralised, modernised – but propaganda nonetheless. This covert campaign didn't happen in a vacuum. It's merely the latest incarnation of Britain's longstanding approach to managing inconvenient narratives abroad. During the Cold War, the UK ran the notorious Information Research Department (IRD) from the bowels of the Foreign Office, quietly subsidising global news wires, encouraging friendly academics, even feeding scripts to George Orwell himself. Back then, it was about containing Soviet influence. Today, the rhetorical targets have shifted – 'Russian disinformation,' 'violent extremism,' 'authoritarian propaganda' – but the machinery is strikingly similar. Only now, it's all camouflaged beneath glossy behavioural science reports and 'evidence-based interventions.' Enter Zinc Network and a clutch of similar contractors. These are the new psy-ops specialists, rebranded for the digital age. Zinc, in particular, has become a darling of the UK Foreign Office, winning multi-million-pound tenders to craft campaigns in Russia's near abroad, the Balkans, Myanmar and beyond. Their operational blueprint is remarkably consistent: conduct meticulous audience research to understand local grievances, find or build trusted social media voices, funnel them resources and content, and ensure they sign binding agreements not to disclose their British backers. A few years ago, leaked FCDO documents exposed exactly this approach in the Baltics. There, the British government paid for contractors to develop Russian-language media platforms that would counter Moscow's narratives – all under the pretext of strengthening independent journalism. They weren't setting up local BBC World Service equivalents, proudly branded and transparent. They were building subtle, local-looking channels designed to mask their sponsorship. The goal was not to encourage robust pluralistic debate, but to ensure the debate didn't wander into critiques of NATO or London's chosen regional allies. This is the moral sleight-of-hand at the core of such projects: democracy is not the intrinsic end, it's the vehicle for achieving Western policy objectives. When the UK says it's 'building resilience against disinformation,' it means reinforcing narratives that advance British strategic interests, whether that's undermining Moscow, insulating Kiev, or keeping critical questions off the table in Tbilisi. Meanwhile, any rival framing is instantly demonised as dangerous foreign meddling – because only some meddling counts, apparently. It is deeply revealing that the YouTubers enlisted by the Foreign Office were compelled to sign NDAs preventing them from disclosing the ultimate source of their funding. If this were truly about open civic engagement, wouldn't the UK proudly brand these campaigns? Wouldn't London stand behind the principles it professes to teach? Instead, it resorts to precisely the covert playbook it decries when wielded by adversaries. In truth, 'disinformation' has become an incredibly convenient term for Western governments. It carries an aura of technical objectivity — as if there's a universal ledger of truth to consult, rather than a constantly contested arena of competing narratives and interests. Once something is labelled disinformation, it can be suppressed, countered, or ridiculed with minimal scrutiny. It is the modern equivalent of calling ideas subversive or communist in the 1950s. Likewise, 'freedom' in these projects means nothing more than the freedom to align with Britain's worldview. This is a freedom to be curated, not genuinely chosen. And so local influencers are groomed to shape perceptions, not to foster independent judgment. The fact that these influencers look indigenous to their societies is the whole point – it's what gives the campaigns a deceptive organic legitimacy. This is why Zinc's approach hinges on meticulous audience segmentation and iterative testing to find precisely which messages will most effectively shift attitudes. The aim is to secure agreement without debate, to achieve consent without the messy business of authentic local deliberation. This should worry us. When liberal democracies resort to covert influence, they hollow out their own moral authority. They also undermine public trust at home and abroad. If London can so easily rationalise deception in Tallinn or Tashkent, why not someday in Manchester or Birmingham? Already, parts of the behavioural 'nudge' industry that grew out of these foreign adventures have found eager domestic clients in public health and law enforcement. The biggest casualty in all of this is genuine democratic discourse – the thing that such operations claim to protect. Because what these programmes actually protect is a carefully policed marketplace of ideas, where uncomfortable questions are outflanked by well-funded, astroturfed consensus. And so long as Britain continues to cloak its strategic propaganda efforts in the soft language of freedom and resilience, citizens everywhere will remain less informed, less empowered, and more easily manipulated. If that's what modern democracy promotion looks like, maybe we should be honest and call it what it is: camouflage propaganda, draped in the rhetoric of liberty, but designed to ensure populations think exactly what Whitehall wants them to think.
BBC News
09-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Gossip: Emery wants Barca's Torres
Unai Emery is keen to bring in Barcelona and forward Ferran Torres, with Aston Villa ready to pay £43m for the 25-year-old former Manchester City player. (Fichajes - in Spanish), externalWant more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip columnFollow the gossip column on BBC Sport
Bloomberg
04-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Sabadell Calls Two Shareholder Meetings For TSB Deal, Dividend
Banco Sabadell SA has called two shareholders meetings as it seeks to approve an extraordinary dividend after agreeing to sell it's UK unit — part of its broader attempt to block a takeover by larger rival BBVA SA. Sabadell plans to hold both meetings on Aug. 6, one to authorize the sale of its TSB unit and the other to approve an extraordinary cash dividend payment of €0.50 per share, it said in a regulatory filing Thursday evening.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spain's Santander buys TSB Bank to boost presence in the UK
Spanish Banco Santander S.A., the biggest lender in continental Europe by market capitalisation, is buying Scotland-based commercial bank TSB for £2.65 billion (€3.08bn). This is a major step to bolster the Spanish lender's future in the UK, as it has been struggling to keep its UK arm afloat. The acquisition of TSB Bank means 5 million customers will be transferred to Santander, who will keep a total of £35bn (€40.1bn) in their deposits. The combined entity will become the third-largest bank in the UK by share of personal current accounts and the fourth-largest by mortgages. However, TSB Bank's name and branding could disappear, as the Spanish lender intends to integrate TSB into the Santander UK group. Santander's chief executive Mike Regnier said to BBC, "We haven't made any decisions yet", but "we tend to use the Santander brand on the high street around the world". Related Sabadell Bank raises shareholder payout promise as BBVA eyes takeover Spanish bank BBVA will start offering bitcoin and ether trading Santander announces buyback plan while CA also sees earnings rise The Spanish bank is hoping to turn its fortunes around after it announced in March that it would cut hundreds of jobs and close a fifth of its branch network in the UK. TSB Bank has been a subsidiary of the Spanish Sabadell Group since 2015, which has now decided to sell the Edinburgh-based lender after it received unsolicited interest from another Spanish financial giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA). Selling TSB Bank could weaken Sabadell's appeal as a merger target. The Spanish bank is expected to boost its returns to its shareholders, using the money it receives from Santander in the deal. It is part of a strategy where Sabadell seeks to retain shareholder interest as it attempts to repel the renewed takeover attempts from BBVA. Sabadell keeps a tab on its website for investors dedicated to the takeover bid, indicating how much shareholders would lose if they agreed to the merger. BBVA said on Monday that the bank 'is moving forward with the acquisition of Banco Sabadell,' despite Sabadell's opposition. Santander's deal is expected to generate a return on invested capital of over 20%. The common cost base of the two banks is expected to decline by 13%, equating to around £400mn (€466mn) in cost savings, according to the bank. A Santander spokeswoman did not rule out branch closures, and said to the BBC that there would be job cuts in the back offices without naming the number of jobs in danger. TSB announced in May that it would lay off 250 employees and close 36 branches. The bank has around 5,000 staff and 175 branches. Santander's deal, first, needs to gain the necessary regulatory approvals and a green light from Sabadell shareholders. After the announcement, the bank's shares were up by nearly 3% at midday in Europe. Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
02-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
TSB Sale Makes BBVA Takeover of Sabadell Harder, Analysts Say
Banco Sabadell SA's sale of its UK unit will further complicate the unsolicited takeover approach by BBVA SA for its smaller Spanish rival, analysts said. Sabadell on Tuesday agreed to sell TSB for £2.65 billion ($3.64 billion). It plans to pay out an extraordinary dividend of about €2.6 billion ($3.1 billion) upon closing of the transaction next year. Analysts said the deal is tempting for Sabadell shareholders and may force BBVA to improve its bid to succeed.
