An elite team of police officers is to monitor social media for anti-migrant sentiment amid fears of summer riots.
Detectives will be drawn from forces across the country to take part in a new investigations unit that will flag up early signs of potential civil unrest.
The division, assembled by the Home Office, will aim to “maximise social media intelligence” gathering after police forces were criticised over their response to last year’s riots.
It comes amid growing concern that Britain is facing another summer of disorder, as protests outside asylum hotels spread.
On Saturday, crowds gathered in towns and cities including Norwich, Leeds and Bournemouth to demand action, with more protests planned for Sunday.
Angela Rayner warned the Cabinet last week that the Government must act to address the “the real concerns that people have” about immigration.
But critics on Saturday night branded the social media plans “disturbing” and raised concerns over whether they would lead to a restriction of free speech.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “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.
“Labour have stopped pretending to fix Britain and started trying to mute it. This is a Prime Minister who’s happy to turn Britain into a surveillance state, but won’t deport foreign criminals, won’t patrol high streets, won’t fund frontline policing.
“Labour are scared of the public, Labour don’t trust the public, Labour don’t even know the public.”
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, 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.”
In a further sign of dissent over the Government’s approach to social media, campaigners claimed on Saturday that posts about anti-migrant protests in the past week had been censored because of new online safety laws.
The new unit, called the National Internet Intelligence Investigations team, will work out of the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) in Westminster.
It follows criticism of the authorities for what some regard as a heavy-handed approach to social media, including a judge’s decision to jail Lucy Connolly, a mother of one who is married to a Conservative councillor, for 31 months over an inflammatory post in the wake of the Southport attacks.
The NPoCC provides the central planning for forces across the country when dealing with “nationally significant protests” and civil disorder.
It also led Operation Talla, the nationwide police response to the Covid pandemic, which included the enforcement of lockdown rules.
Plans for the new investigation unit emerged in a letter to MPs by Dame Diana Johnson, the policing minister, which was published just before recess.
Unit to ‘exploit internet intelligence’
She wrote: “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).
“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.
“Funding for this capability beyond 2025-26 will need to be considered in line with future funding priorities but I am confident that as a first step, this new central team will help build capability across forces to maximise social media intelligence.”
Dame Diana was responding to an inquiry by the committee into the police’s handling of last summer’s riots.
The report recommended setting up a new policing system with “enhanced capacity to monitor and respond to social media at the national level”.
It mirrored an earlier investigation into the same issue by HMICFRS.
The watchdog said policing “hasn’t kept pace with the fast-developing nature of online communications” and was too “passive” in the face of online misinformation.
It 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.”
Free speech campaigners raised concerns about the plans, which follow widespread controversy over the policing of social media.
Essex Police faced criticism last year when it sent officers to the home of Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson over a post she made on X.
The Telegraph has also revealed that ministers set up a secret Covid disinformation unit during the pandemic, which was accused of suppressing free speech.
Counter-Disinformation Unit
A cross-Whitehall team set up in 2019 to tackle “disinformation” around the European election. It has been reconvened several times over the last four years – again in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its remit was expanded during the pandemic to include responding to “harmful misinformation” relating to Covid-19 alongside its routine work of analysing disinformation.
Counter-Disinformation Policy Forum
A group of social media companies, fact-checking organisations and academics, assembled ahead of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout with the aim of combatting mis and disinformation.
Members included Facebook, Google, the BBC Trusted News Initiative, YouTube, Twitter, Ofcom, the Global Disinformation Index, the Center for Countering Digital Hate and a number of university professors.
Rapid Response Unit
A team that was within the Cabinet Office that monitored news and online content that was considered to be misinformation. This was then flagged with the Counter-Disinformation Unit. It was wound up in July 2022. During its pilot in 2018 the service spotted “false narratives” relating to the chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The unit ensured those using search terms on air strikes were presented with fact.
Rebecca Vincent, the interim director of Big Brother Watch, raised concerns that the new investigations team could stray into policing lawful opinions online.
She said: “The Home Office’s plan to create a new police unit to monitor social media is disturbing, and eerily reminiscent of the Covid-era counter-disinformation units, which have been the subject of widespread public outcry.
“It is unclear how police will use the information they gather or whether they will attempt to interfere with online content as these Orwellian units have before, but our message is clear – the Ministry of Truth era is over.
“Resources should be put into proper physical policing to ensure public safety rather than surveilling online speech.”
The revelations came as Donald Trump, whose administration has been critical of Labour’s approach to free speech, arrived for a five-day visit to the UK.
Last week, the US state department said Europe’s increasing regulation of social media sites amounted to “Orwellian” censorship.
Peter Kyle, the Science Secretary, said the Government could shut down online platforms such as Elon Musk’s X if they did not abide by new online safety laws.
Changes that came in last Friday require firms hosting adult content to introduce “highly effective” age checks such as photo ID matching to prevent under-18s accessing their sites.
Tech companies have also been told to ensure their minimum age limits of 13 are enforced properly or that their sites are radically overhauled to make content safe for children.
However, within hours of the measures in the Online Safety Act coming into force, footage of protests against asylum hotels appeared to be unavailable for at least some users in the UK.
The Free Speech Union, a pressure group led by the Tory peer Lord Young, said: “If you have a standard X account in the UK – presumably the majority of British users – it appears that you may not be able to see any protest footage that contains violence.”
A screenshot shared by Benjamin Jones, one of the group’s directors, showed a content label in place of one post that said: “Due to local laws, we are temporarily restricting access to this content until X estimates your age.”
The Free Speech Union added that it was aware of at least one post which had been censored that showed an arrest being made.
The social media intelligence scheme forms part of Sir Keir’s wider crackdown on crime, which aims to restore public confidence in policing.
As part of this, police in Devon and Cornwall are embedding specialist anti-social behaviour lawyers who will work to fast-track prosecutions.
Humberside Police are also using real-time mapping to allow patrols to attend “emerging problem locations”.
A Home Office spokesman said: “This new team will help police forces track real-time information and protect communities from incidents and emergencies before they escalate.
“As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we are restoring visible, neighbourhood policing, focused on the public’s priorities, including halving knife crime and violence against women, clamping down on theft and anti-social behaviour, and ensuring that people can feel safe in their own high streets.”
The post Elite Police Squad to Monitor Anti-Migrant Posts on Social Media appeared first on American Renaissance.
American Renaissance
