UCL among unis that paid security firms to ‘spy’ on Palestine activists

University College London has been revealed as one of 12 UK universities that paid security firms to “spy” on pro-Palestine student activists.

According to a joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates, private firm Horus Security Consultancy Limited, led by former military officials, was paid to “spy” on students’ online activities. It performed counter-terrorism background checks on behalf of the universities. Some universities received alerts about pro-Palestinian activities.

The information came to light following Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to more than 150 universities.

UCL via Unsplash

Lizzie Hobbs, a PhD student at a London university who has openly shared her support for Palestine, was among those investigated by the firm. Lizzie had a post on X flagged and sent to her university’s security team on June 18th 2024. An email revealed during the investigation referenced a Horus security briefing during which one of her posts was mentioned. It read: “We may have been evicted, but we are more powerful and organised as a collective than we have ever been!”

Lizzie only learnt about the surveillance when being approached for comment by Al Jazeera. She shared how “deeply scary” it is to see how much universities are “willing to invest”: “We knew surveillance was happening by the university, but it is shocking to see how systematised it is.”

The UK’s 2015 Counter-Terrorism and Security Act demands universities to consider the risk of speakers possessing “extremist views” which may result in drawing people into terrorism. Horus provided MMU with a six page report on Palestinian-American academic Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi. It assessed her social media accounts, allegations made against her by pro-Israel groups and references to 2014 allegations of antisemitism.

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For £900 per month, universities received thousands of student’s social media posts in “campus updates” from the firm.

Horus was paid a total of £443,943 between January 2022 and March 2025 . The firm also offers a service called “Insight,” which provides clients with open-source intelligence reports. However, there is nothing which indicates that this activity is illegal.

The company has been integrating AI into its operations since 2022. The United Nations rapporteur for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Gina Romero, said: “The use of AI to harvest and analyse student data under the guise of open source intelligence raises profound legal concerns.”

A UCL spokesperson told The London 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, and we are committed to ensuring our students and staff can express their views in a lawful and safe way.”