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The classified Government documents had been leaked on Reddit, the online discussion site. Reddit added that one of the accounts had in "late October" posted the documents, which contained details of meetings between US and UK officials on a potential post-Brexit trade deal. The Labour leader used the classified documents detailing trade talks between US and UK officials as evidence of what he said were "secret talks" to sell off the NHS.

The leaked documents used by Jeremy Corbyn as proof Tories are planning to sell off the NHS have been linked to a Russian disinformation campaign on Reddit, the social media platform has said. Reddit said it had banned 61 accounts following an investigation of suspect activity. The campaign shared the same pattern of activity as a Russian operation dubbed "Secondary Infektion" uncovered by Facebook earlier this year. Mr Corbyn used the leaked documents as evidence the Government was at an advanced stage of negotiations with the US to open up the health service to American pharmaceutical companies. There is currently no suggestions the documents were false or doctored in any way.

The NHS documents may have been leaked from a Russian source

"The uncensored documents leave Boris Johnson's denials in absolute tatters," Mr Corbyn told a news conference last week. The prime minister dismissed the claims as "total nonsense" and his party said the Labour leader had misrepresented the documents and quoted sections out of context. The documents first appeared in a post on Reddit in October and the site has now said it believes it is "part of a campaign that has been reported as originating from Russia". Reddit said it believed the documents were leaked as "part of a campaign that has been reported as originating from Russia".

The NHS documents may have been leaked from a Russian source

In a statement, Reddit said its investigation had found a "pattern of coordination" between the now-banned accounts on its site and a Russian campaign uncovered by Facebook earlier this year. Information from the investigation into the "Secondary Infektion" campaign on Facebook was used to identify suspect accounts on Reddit. Reddit said: "This group provides us with important attribution for the recent posting of the leaked UK documents, as well as insights into how adversaries are adapting their tactics. "As a result of this investigation, we are banning 61 accounts under our policies against vote manipulation and misuse of the platform. " Labour has refused to discuss the source for the documents. "These documents reveal the plot against our NHS. And of course neither the UK nor the US government have denied their authenticity. Our releasing them to journalists was clearly in the public interest," a Labour spokesman said.

Labour's leaked NHS documents may have come from Russia

Jeremy Corbyn's leaked NHS dossier may have come from Russia

The 451-page dossier, which the Labour leader unveiled during a press conference on Wednesday, is believed to have been posted to a politics forum on social media website Reddit back by a user named “gregoratior” back in October. A social media research firm earlier this week said that the documents were shared in a similar way to a Russian disinformation operation dubbed as Secondary Infektion, which was exposed by Facebook earlier this year. And Reddit has now confirmed that they believe the documents did come from Russia. The company said in a statement: “We were recently made aware of a post on Reddit that included leaked documents from the UK. READ MORE: John McDonnell's four-day week plan could ‘cost NHS £6billion-a-year’

Jeremy Corbyn's leaked NHS dossier may have come from Russia

“We investigated this account and the accounts connected to it, and today we believe this was part of a campaign that has been reported as originating from Russia.” The company said it has also identified a further network of accounts, which had attempted to promote the original post with the leaked documents. “All of these accounts have the same shared pattern as the original Secondary Infektion group detected, causing us to believe that this was indeed tied to the original group,” it said. Mr Corbyn claimed the documents contradicted the prime minister’s denial that the NHS is part of negotiations with the US, which some fear could see parts of the public health service sold off to private US companies. DONT MISS UK to launch own satellite with Space Command ‘to combat Russia threat [REVEALED]

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Jeremy Corbyn's leaked NHS dossier may have come from Russia

Jeremy Corbyn's leaked NHS dossier may have come from Russia

He told reporters: “We have now got evidence that under Boris Johnson the NHS is on the table and will be up for sale. He tried to cover it up in a secret agenda and today it has been exposed.” A Labour spokesperson declined to comment on how the party obtained the leaked documents or ties to the Russian campaign. The Reddit post, titled “Official-sensitive: Great Britain is practically standing on her knees working on a trade agreement with the US”, were only seen by a handful of users before Mr Corbyn came forward with them. “I suspect that this publication will make some noise, so that’s why you probably don’t have much time to look through the internal secret documents that contain specific details of the upcoming FTA between the UK and the US,” the Reddit user wrote.

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The Reddit post had the following text: “Three years, six bilateral meetings of the UK-US Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG), 12 chapter-level discussions, 451 pages of reports. “A detailed analysis and processing of such an amount of material will require a lot of time, knowledge and definitely more than one pair of eyes, so I’m dumping this here.”