During the CCP virus pandemic, behavioural science was inappropriately exploited to scare the people into following the laws, according to a former senior member of the government’s infamous “Nudge Unit.” Simon Ruda, a co-founder of the Behavioural Insights Team, the UK government’s initial nudge unit before its privatization and global expansion, questioned whether behavior science had been used to sanction “state propaganda” inadvertently during the crisis. Two BI executives are now members of the government’s Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours, a sub-group of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies with 48 members. The other members of the SPI-B are largely university academics and scientists from other government agencies. A SAGE document published in the early days of the pandemic, which presented options the government could use to increase compliance to social distancing measures, included advice such as increasing the … Continue reading UK Government Accused of ‘Propagandistic’ Persuasion for COVID Compliance