Secretive Covid-era ‘spy’ agency brought in to monitor social media during riots

National Security Online Information Team to play central role in response to violence sweeping UK

A secretive government agency used to “spy on” anti-lockdown campaigners during the Covid pandemic has been deployed to monitor social media amid the riots, The Telegraph has learnt.
The Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU), now rebranded as the National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT), has been given the task just months after MPs called for an independent review of its activities.
Campaigners have expressed concern that NSOIT is playing a central role in the riots response despite outstanding questions over whether it is fit for purpose.
Peter Kyle, the Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, has asked NSOIT to monitor online activity discussing the deaths of the three children killed in Southport and the rioting, after widespread public disorder followed untrue claims about the suspect on social media.
The unit has “trusted flagger status”, which effectively gives it privileged access to social media moderators who make decisions on whether posts should be taken down, it is understood.
The CDU was set up in March 2020 to combat what Boris Johnson’s government described as “false coronavirus information online” but, as The Telegraph later revealed, was also used to crack down on dissent from those who disagreed with official policy.
Among those who were monitored by the unit were Carl Heneghan, the epidemiologist who opposed blanket lockdowns, Molly Kingsley, who campaigned to keep schools open during the pandemic, and David Davis, the Conservative MP who called for the CDU to be shut down.
Big Brother Watch, the civil liberties group, described the CDU as “one of the most opaque units in Government outside the security services” and accused it of “spying on” free speech.
Silkie Carlo, its director, has now questioned whether it, rather than another agency, should be used in the response to the riots.
She told The Telegraph: “There are serious questions as to whether NSOIT is fit for this task, given its chilling track record of monitoring the lawful and accurate speech of journalists, scientists, parliamentarians, human rights advocates and members of the public during the pandemic when they rightly questioned the government’s pandemic management.
“It’s worrying to see NSOIT brought into action shortly after its controversial activities were exposed, and before it has been subject to the important independent review the culture committee called for.”
Ms Carlo described NSOIT as “a deceptively-named shadowy Whitehall cell, which operates far beyond national security” and said that if the Government were to stray into censoring lawful free speech it could “inflame tensions and distrust rather than promote social harmony”.
A report by the Commons culture, media and sport committee, published in April, questioned “the lack of transparency and accountability of [NSOIT] and the appropriateness of its reach”, and recommended that the Government commission an independent review of “the activities and strategy” of the unit to report back within 12 months.
However, Mr Davis said he had no real objection to NSOIT being used to monitor social media during the riots because “it’s perfectly legitimate for the state to monitor things that might incite violence”.
The Government is urging internet giants to remove misleading content from the far Right more quickly, amid fears that it is fuelling the violence seen in the last week.
Mr Kyle held one-on-one talks with executives from five social media companies – X, YouTube, Meta, Google and TikTok – on Monday. Afterwards, he released a statement warning about the “spread of hateful misinformation and incitement” on the riots and insisting action must be taken “at pace”.
The remit was then said to have widened to include posts being made about the riots more widely as they began to spread across towns and cities in the last week.
A division of labour is understood broadly to have emerged. Home Office figures are flagging up online content that could break the law, such as incitement of violence. Officials in NSOIT are focusing on material that could breach social media companies’ rules, but fall short of criminal activity.
It is unclear exactly where the unit is drawing the line when it comes to disinformation, an area likely to be scrutinised in the days and weeks ahead if the violence continues.
Social media executives have been telling the Government that they are willing to act on material that breaches their terms of service.
That is a key part of the Online Safety Act, which was passed last year but will not be implemented until next year when Ofcom, the media regulator, finishes its consultation on how it should be made to work.
A government spokesman said: “We have been abundantly clear – what is illegal offline is illegal online, and it’s right that any thugs stoking violence on the streets meet the full force of the law.
“We make no apology for monitoring publicly available content that threatens public safety. The information is flagged up to social media firms when it is likely to have breached their terms of service, and the police when it meets a criminal threshold.
“That obviously requires monitoring within the rules of privacy and human rights laws: which is exactly what teams across the Government are doing.”
A government source added that the unit monitors trends, rather than individuals.