UK plans social media spy squad to monitor anti-migrant posts: Report

London: The British government is planning a new intelligence unit pulled from across police forces to monitor and flag anti-migrant posts on social media to pre-empt them flaring into violent protests, a UK media report claimed on Sunday.

Plans for a so-called National Internet Intelligence Investigations team working out of the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) in London emerged in a letter to members of Parliament by UK Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson recently, according to ‘The Sunday Telegraph’.

The NPoCC provides the central planning for police forces across the UK when dealing with protests and civil disorder, similar to anti-immigration protests that broke out last year.

Plans for the new unit came as protests outside hotels housing asylum-seekers spread across towns such as Norwich, Leeds and Bournemouth over the weekend.

“We are carefully considering recommendations made by the [Commons Home Affairs] committee and HMICFRS [His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services] in this area, including building a National Internet Intelligence Investigations team as part of the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC),” Johnson wrote in her letter to MPs.

“This team will provide a national capability to monitor social media intelligence and advise on its use to inform local operational decision-making. This will be a dedicated function at a national level for exploiting internet intelligence to help local forces manage public safety threats and risks,” she said.

The minister was responding to an inquiry by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee into the police’s handling of last year’s riots in early August. Those riots were triggered by online misinformation about the immigration status of Welsh-born Rwandan heritage knifeman Axel Rudakubana who killed three schoolgirls at a Taylor Swift themed dance class in Southport, north-west England, in July 2024.

The report recommended setting up a new policing system with “enhanced capacity to monitor and respond to social media at the national level”.

The HMICFRS in its analysis had also flagged policing “hasn’t kept pace with the fast-developing nature of online communications” and was too “passive” in the face of online misinformation.

The watchdog said: “The disorder in 2024 shows that policing needs to act now and be more responsive to those risks. It must recognise that online content could contain vital intelligence.” Meanwhile, Opposition party critics raised free speech concerns over the creation of such a unit.

“Two-tier Keir can’t police the streets, so he’s trying to police opinions instead. They’re setting up a central team to monitor what you post, what you share, what you think, because deep down they know the public don’t buy what they’re selling,” said shadow home secretary Chris Philp.

Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-migration Reform UK, said: “This is the beginning of the state controlling free speech. It is sinister, dangerous and must be fought. Reform UK will do just that.”