Russell Group unis accused of paying an intelligence firm to ‘spy’ on student protesters

UK universities, including several from the Russell Group, have been accused of paying a “leading intelligence” firm to “spy” on student protesters.

Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates claimed that 12 UK unis have paid Horus Security Consultancy Limited to monitor student protests. The organisation is said to have searched social media for students’ and academics’ posts about protests, for instance, when pro-Palestine protesters set up encampments at unis, digging through students’ and academics’ posts, collating them into daily “encampment updates”, and charging unis £900 a month for this service

Here are the Russell Group unis which were accused of paying Horus to research student protesters, academics and guest speakers:

University of Bristol

Since May 2024, the Uni of Bristol reportedly paid Horus £8,700 for a “bespoke” alert service about “anything related to proposed student protest [and] encompassing all protest activity across the city”. The uni is said to have sent Horus a list of six organisations to look into. This seemingly included pro-Palestine and animal rights groups.

An anti-Trump protest at Bristol Uni

According to the university, Horus gathers “publicly available information on any protest activity by any group in the city that could potentially affect the safety of [Bristol Uni’s] community”.The Uni continued: “It helps us to make informed decisions on where our security staff may be needed to provide support and if information needs to be conveyed to students and staff.”

Imperial College London

The uni told Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates it pays Horus to “help identify potential security risks to its community, which might include protest activity within the vicinity of its campuses”. Imperial confirmed “all this information is drawn from the public domain”.

King’s College London (KCL)

A spokesperson told The Tab: “Freedom of speech for students and staff is a fundamental right, and we have and will continue to support the right to peaceful protest. It is incorrect to suggest that the company is used for surveillance on students, we only use publicly available information to understand when a protest will take place to ensure we have the right resources in place for our University community, making sure events can continue safely and within the bounds of the law, while minimising disruption on campus.”

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

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Reportedly, Horus supplied LSE with daily “encampment briefings”. A report from 18th June 2024 included a PhD student’s post on X.

A spokesperson for LSE told The Tab: “LSE has not ‘been paying a private security firm to monitor campus Pro-Palestinian activity.’ Wanting to understand how the protests had been reported on and understood publicly, and along with many other universities, two years ago LSE employed a company to provide a round-up of news and publicly available commentary on the encampments across the UK. No individual was targeted or monitored. Freedom of speech and expression are of the utmost importance to LSE and underpin everything we do.”

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University of Manchester

The University of Manchester also confirmed to Al Jazeera English that since July 2023, it paid Horus to compile reports on two guest speakers.

University of Nottingham

A spokesperson told The Nottingham Tab: “We have used Horus for horizon scanning specifically in the areas of domestic activism and animal rights. It is not focused on any specific group or political issue and the university does not monitor or share any information related to individuals with this company. The university strongly refutes the accusation that the use of this service for monitoring purposes constitutes ‘spying’ or covert surveillance of our staff and students. The information which is lawfully gathered is freely shared in the public domain across a range of platforms including mainstream media reports, social media channels, online forums, etc.

“The university supports freedom of speech and lawful protest but this activity helps us to identify potential security risks and to keep our campuses safe for our staff and student communities.”

University of Oxford

Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates have also claimed the University of Oxford paid Horus to look into protests on campus. The Tab has contacted the Uni of Oxford for comment.

University of Sheffield

Stand Up to Racism protesters in Sheffield

A spokesperson confirmed to The Sheffield Tab that the uni uses “external services to ‘horizon scan’ and share briefings on external issues” and “issues that may affect Sheffield specifically, such as large-scale, upcoming protests”.

The uni explained: “Any briefings are compiled strictly from publicly available information from news sites, websites and social media platforms. We do not share student data with these providers and they are not briefed to monitor individuals or actively monitor student social media accounts.”

University College London (UCL)

Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates also claimed UCL has paid for Horus’s services.

A UCL spokesperson told The Tab: “Like many universities, UCL uses specialist services to help us understand potential risks to our campuses and community. This information, which is publicly available, is used to support operational planning and to help ensure the safety and security of our staff, students and visitors. We do not use such services to monitor individuals, lawful student protest or peaceful expression; we view the right to protest, debate and challenge ideas as fundamental to freedom of speech.”

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