Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media

The Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (SPM) is a group of academics and others which claims that the Syrian White Helmets civil defence organisation has staged false flag attacks in order to trigger Western retaliation against the Syrian regime. The group was formed by environmental political theory professor Tim Hayward and former academic Piers Robinson in 2017. It has gained attention and criticism for disputing the veracity of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War.
Purpose.
The SPM was established with the stated aim to "facilitate research into the areas of organised persuasive communication (including propaganda and information operations) and media coverage, with respect to the 2011-present conflict in Syria including related topics". 
Views and activities.
The first publication of the SPM was titled "Doubts about "Novichoks""; it questioned whether Russia's secret nerve agent programme ever existed.
One of the SPM's claims is that that the 2018 Douma chemical attack was faked by the White Helmets civil defence organisation. It described chemical weapon expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon as an “agent” probably working on behalf of an MI6 covert influence programme. US politician Tulsi Gabbard cited their allegations about Douma.
In early 2018, "The Times" newspaper ran a series of articles on Hayward and the SPM, in which it said the group spreads "disinformation" in support of the government of Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian Civil War and "conspiracy theories promoted by Russia". "The Times" also said that the group's members are "apologists for Assad" and likened them to Holocaust deniers. In response, the SPM said that its members have a shared interest in "investigating the 'information operations' (...) associated with the Syrian conflict" and stressed that "the Working Group does not take any position for or against the Syrian government."
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Robinson and Hayward shared others' speculation on social media that COVID-19 is a biological weapon and that Microsoft-founder Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum have been involved in plots to use COVID-19 against groups of people.
A March 2021 BBC News article stated that the SPM had, "echoed [...] Russian disinformation narratives" in a number of publications by suggesting that the governments of the United States and United Kingdom had a motive to kill Russian dissident Sergei Skripal in order to prevent him from testifying in a libel case against former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. Skripal was poisoned by Russian agents in Salisbury, England.
Coordination with Russian diplomats.
In March 2021, the BBC and "The Times" published reports of a sting operation targeting SPM member Paul McKeigue by the organisation Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), in which CIJA posed over email as a Russian agent named "Ivan." McKeigue corresponded with "Ivan" over the course of several months, believing that he was communicating with a Russian spy. In April 2021, The Daily Beast and "Newlines Magazine" reported on McKeigue's emails to "Ivan" and the SPM's attempts to coordinate with Russian diplomats including Alexander Shulgin, Russia’s ambassador to the Netherlands, on publications about Syria. The report stated that McKeigue obtained legal advice from Melinda Taylor, one of the Julian Assange personal lawyers, on how to make litigious claims against the OPCW. McKeigue referred to the legal action as "lawfare", a term generally used to describe frivolous or harassing litigation. McKeigue and Taylor also discussed promoting claims of fraud against CIJA.
Members.
Members of the SPM include environmental political theory professor Tim Hayward, conspiracy theorist, activist and blogger Vanessa Beeley, former academic Piers Robinson, sociologist David Miller, genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics professor Paul McKeigue, international relations lecturer Tara McCormack, and others. Members of its advisory board have included Mark Crispin Miller.