UK Government Body Kept Files on People Criticizing Prevent Program
4 hours ago
- British citizens' online criticism of a government program can be collected and stored by a government-linked body.
- The Prevent Standards and Compliance Unit (StaCU) made 77 observations of online critics from March 2024 to February 2025, mainly from X and Reddit.
- Observations are filed as 'open-source complaints' and stored internally, but it's unclear how data is used or shared.
- Rights & Security International (RSI) obtained documents via FOI law, highlighting concerns about surveillance of public criticism.
- The Home Office initially refused to release documents but lost an appeal, revealing the extent of monitoring of Prevent program critics.