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 “maximize social media intelligence” gathering after police forces were criticized 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.”
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 councilor, 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.
……..“This will be a dedicated function at a national level for exploiting internet intelligence to help local forces manage public safety threats and risks.
……….The report recommended setting up a new policing system with “enhanced capacity to monitor and respond to social media at the national level”.
In other words, any objection to the violence, rapes, assaults, and intimidation by the muzzie protected class will be treated as a threat.
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 recognize that online content could contain vital intelligence.”
Notice how the British government uses intelligence collection against their own citizens to squelch free speech and drag them off to jail for speaking out.
Heinrich Himmler is in hell laughing his ass off.
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.
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.
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.
………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 behavior lawyers who will work to fast-track prosecutions.
“Anti-social behavior”……Orwell had it nailed.
The entire continent of Europe is saturated with these muzzie thugs, yet the idiots in government keep making excuses and pandering to them. The terrorist attacks in Britain are increasing.
The rise of Islamic terrorism on the European continent started the day they put out the welcome mat for Haji invaders.
Muzzie animals commit massacres across Germany and have engaged in multiple terrorist attacks in France and Belgium, starting with Charlie Hebdo in January, 2015. Evidently, they haven’t had enough carnage. Instead of preventing these muzzie monsters from entering their region and deporting the rest, they prefer to become eunuchs for the New Caliphate.
The muzzie “migrants” in Britain brought the Islamic ideology with them.
Your videos could get your jailed. The director of public prosecutions of England and Wales warns that ‘sharing online material’ of riots could be an offence.
A Christian quoting bible verses gets arrested while muzzies taking over a street with their prayer to Allah gets a pass.
Britain is in the throes of suicide. It allows violent terrorist muzzie pigs onto its soil and the ensuing carnage is condoned by gutless law enforcement. They murder, rape, and commit acts of terrorism with impunity while citizens who speak out against it are censored, harassed, and prosecuted.
This is a prime example of the garbage that the British rulers have allowed into their country:
They take over streets and neighborhoods, in a show of force. They will not assimilate or follow the laws and traditions of the Western country they inhabit. Their purpose is to take over. It’s an invasion, not migration.
These hostile foreigners don’t share your values. They want to exploit and kill you. They will not leave. They demand that you change to their way of life.
They state their intentions clearly and without any consequence from the government officials who placate instead of using law enforcement and “intelligence gathering” to handle the real threat to their country.
Euro government officials need a good dose of the consequences of their open arms policies for terrorists. They won’t understand until it happens to them, their children, their friends, their neighborhoods. They have exclusive residences and 24 hour security. The human garbage needs to be dumped at their homes.
The British people are fed up with the invasion of their country by hostile foreigners and their government’s complicity.