Free speech row: Home Office minister grilled on Whitehall’s ‘spy unit’

Whitehall’s “spy unit” has reportedly been used by the Government to target social media posts criticising migrant hotels and two-tier policing.

Civil servants have reportedly raised concerns with social media platforms warning that certain posts contained “concerning narratives”.

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Ellie Costello grilled Home Office Minister Diana Johnson on Whitehall’s ‘spy unit’

Pressed by Ellie on whether Britons are having their “free speech monitored”, Johnson responded: “No, we’re not having our free speech monitored at all, and it’s absolutely right that people can express their views within the law on social media.

“What I would say is that the police, and particularly when we had the disorder last August, actually, it was absolutely right that the police should be looking and monitoring what was being put on to social media in terms of organisation of riots, and have that information to allow them then to plan what they needed to provide in terms of protecting the public.”

Pointing out that the task force are flagging content which holds a “concerning narrative”, Ellie questioned Johnson on “who decides” which content is of a “concerning” nature.

Johnson told GB News: “Obviously there are issues around incitement and if there is, there are criminal offences being committed. That’s obviously a matter then for the police, but also for social media companies to take down that type of content.

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“But in terms again of free speech, of people being able to express their views freely, that’s a very important part of our democracy. It’s not something that I recognise as being impeded by the actions that the police, who I have some knowledge of, are taking in terms of keeping us safe and monitoring social media for anything that might be moving towards rioting or disorder in the way we saw last summer.”

Noting the Government’s planned “elite police unit” which will also check anti-migrant content on social media, host Stephen Dixon grilled Johnson on why police are “looking at tweets” rather than monitoring Britain’s streets.

Johnson said: “I don’t think that’s an accurate reflection of what’s happening. If you recall, last summer, one of the issues was about the use of social media in terms of that disorder and the fact that the police were monitoring what was going on, the call to attend certain places, and then there was disorder that resulted because of that.

“What came out of the review of what happened last summer was that we need to be smarter about using social media to identify where problems are developing. And that’s what this new unit is about.”

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Johnson told GB News that free speech is ‘not being monitored’ by Government task forces

She added: “It’s about having a more coordinated response for police forces to understand where communities may be being put in danger because of organisation around riots and violent disorder, that’s what it’s about. It’s certainly not about monitoring or looking at free speech and people’s ability to say what they believe should or shouldn’t happen in terms of immigration policy.”

A Government spokesman said in a statement: “Free speech is a cornerstone of our democracy. The Online Safety Act protects it. Platforms have a duty to uphold freedom of expression, and the Act places no curbs whatsoever on what adults can say and see on the internet – unless it is something that would already be illegal, offline.

“The Government has no role in deciding what actions platforms take on legal content for adults – that is a matter for them, according to their own rules.

“However we make no apologies for flagging to platforms content which is contrary to their own terms of service and which can result in violent disorder on our streets, as we saw in the wake of the horrific Southport attack.”