King’s College London handed pre-action letter after being accused of ‘spying’ on protestors

King’s College London (KCL) has been issued a legal pre-action letter after an investigation revealed the university hired a security company to “spy” on student protestors.

The investigation, which was conducted by Al-Jazeera and Liberty Investigates through sending Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to 150 universities, showed that King’s hired security firm Horas Limited to actively monitor profile, and assess pro-Palestinian students and academic staff.

It is estimated that 12 UK universities in total have paid the firm at least £440,000 since 2022 to conduct such investigations.

As a result, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) has issued letters to the 12 universities involved, urging them to end surveillance, dispose of information collected, and provide disclosure of contracts and policies relating to such practices, including handling, automation and GDPR compliance.

The centre argued the universities’ use of surveillance has had a “chilling effect,” which not only discourages students and academics from participating in lawful debate, but also undermines institutional commitments to academic freedom.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the UK’s largest union for lecturers and university staff, the University and College Union (UCU), previously told Al Jazeera it was “shameful” that institutions had “wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds spying on their own students”.

via kclstands4justice

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Órlaith Roe, ICJP’s Public Affairs and Communications Officer, said: “What we’re seeing here is a deeply troubling escalation in the monitoring of lawful pro-Palestinian advocacy on UK campuses. The outsourcing of surveillance to private intelligence firms, without transparency or consent, exposes these universities to legal risks, as well as undermining the principles of universities.

“Universities should be places where open debate is encouraged, not environments that foster fear and self-censorship. There must now be urgent scrutiny of these practices, and clear accountability for those involved.”

 A King’s College London spokesperson said: “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 we use a service to carry out surveillance on individuals, or to specifically target or monitor any group, affiliation, or belief.

“We use only publicly available information to understand when a protest, on any topic, will take place at King’s or nearby to ensure that we have the right resources for events and lawful protest to continue safely and with minimal disruption to campus.”

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Featured image via Unsplash and kclstands4justice