US trade documents used by Labour in general election campaign could have been hacked by Russia Experts claimed the leak of the trade dossier was similar to previous Russian hacking campaigns

Leaked documents which Labour claim show the USA is trying to expand its reach over the NHS could have been hacked by Russia, according to experts.

The UK Government papers were found on social media site Reddit earlier this year. They detail initial talks between British and American trade negotiators – proving the US wants to secure access to the NHS for its firms, according to Jeremy Corbyn.

Tech experts say the leak is similar to a campaign called Secondary Infektion where Russian accounts sought to spread disinformation using fake documents.

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Ben Nimmo of social media analysts Graphika told the Reuters news agency: “It’s on the same set of websites, it’s using the same types of accounts and making the same language errors. It’s either the Russian operation or someone trying hard to look like it.”

‘Foreign influence’

Graham Brookie, from the Atlantic Council thinktank, added: “Whoever did this was absolutely trying to keep it a secret. It carries the spectre of foreign influence.”

The documents from the Department of International Trade were shared simultaneously on Reddit, Twitter and a conspiracy theory website – the same pattern as the Secondary Infektion campaign, according to the experts.

A spokesperson for Reddit said: “The integrity of our site is of paramount importance and we are investigating these findings.”

The Labour party declined to comment. Party sources insist that publishing the documents was in the public interest because of the danger of the NHS being sold out to American firms.

US demands on NHS

The dossier, which dated back to 2017, showed that US negotiators asked for greater protection for drug patents, which could result in the health service paying higher prices for medication.

Boris Johnson is adamant that the NHS will not be up for discussion during post-Brexit talks on a transatlantic trade deal, and Donald Trump says he has no interest in securing access to the UK’s health system.

Russian hackers have a track record of trying to spread mistrust in democracy by distributing faked, contentious or misleading information. Sometimes government-sponsored actors promote the campaigns of a particular candidate, as happened with Mr Trump in the 2016 US election, but at other times the apparent aim is to undermine the system as a whole.