London, February 26 (RHC)-- A new report based on leaks by Edward Snowden reveals new details of how Western spy agencies manipulate information online.

Writing at TheIntercept.org, Glenn Greenwald describes the tactics of a secret unit inside Britain’s top spy agency called JTRIG, or Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group.

JTRIG’s self-identified goals are to discredit targets by posting fake material — including, for example, fake blog posts purporting to be by a target’s victim — and to manipulate online discourse.

A newly revealed document titled "Disruption: Operational Playbook," lists tactics like "false flag operation," or posting material online, then falsely attributing it to someone else.

The targets appear to include those suspected of "hacktivism," meaning online acts of political protest. "The broader point," Greenwald writes, "is that ... these surveillance agencies have vested themselves with the power to deliberately ruin people’s reputations and disrupt their on-line political activity even though they’ve been charged with no crimes, and even though their actions have no conceivable connection to terrorism or even national security threats."