UK extremism commission solicits Prevent complaints from far-right social media

Middle East Eye

28-01-2025

The UK's Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE) is soliciting complaints about the Prevent counterterrorism programme from anonymous far-right social media accounts, Middle East Eye can reveal.
A review of the commission's recent activity on the social media platform X found it has engaged with posts purportedly written by people critical of public sector Prevent training, including posts which suggest that the programme is "turning a blind eye to Islam" while exaggerating the threat posed by the far right.
In one case, the commission intervened in response to a comment from an account named British Lionness posted as part of a thread reacting to unrest in the English city of Leeds in July last year, when hundreds took to the streets and a double-decker bus was set on fire.
Major far-right commentators online blamed Muslims and "third world" migrants for the events.
The thread was prompted by a post from an account named Queen Natalie which asked: 'Please tell me when the last time native British white people have riot on mass like the cultural invaders who come here?'
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Queen Natalie describes herself on her X profile as 'English' and a 'Patriot' who has had 'enough of the WOKE ideology that's infected the West'.
An anonymous account called Repost X replied in a now-deleted post, saying: 'Romanian gypsies kicking off in Leeds', using a derogatory term for Roma people.
This was followed by the reply from the British Lioness account, which complained: 'I go on 'prevent' training for work frequently the woke home office women who gives it always refers to the last terrorist attack in the U.K. was by a far right white man !
'3 courses in the last 6 months and she repeats Far Right is the problem !'
Engaging with far-right accounts
The next reply in the thread, however, came not from another anonymous account but from the CCE's official X account.
'Hello, we process and investigate complaints about Prevent and are interested in finding out more about the training referenced above,' the CCE said in its post.
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'Please feel free to DM us, tweet us back, or make a formal complaint using this link.' A link to a government webpage entitled 'Make a complaint about Prevent' was attached.
There was no visible reply from British Lioness.
MEE's findings appear to raise further questions about the role of the commission, currently headed by Robin Simcox, which was made responsible for overseeing Prevent by the previous Conservative government following a contentious review of the programme by William Shawcross.
Shawcross' review had called for a renewed focus within Prevent on "Islamist extremism" while suggesting it had concentrated too much on the far right.
Simcox, whose appointment in 2022 drew widespread criticism owing to his record of working for think tanks accused of Islamophobia, has also previously criticised Prevent for putting too much emphasis on the far right - advocating for a greater focus on Islamist extremism.
But the controversial programme is now facing fresh scrutiny after it was revealed last week that a teenager convicted of the murders of three young girls in Southport last year had been referred to Prevent three times as a schoolboy.
'The CCE's reliance on unverified, anonymous far-right social media accounts for criticism of Prevent is a desperate attempt to amplify ideologically driven narratives'
- Layla Aitlhadj, Prevent Watch
Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised a review of the "entire counter-extremist system" and announced the appointment of Lord David Anderson to the new role of independent Prevent commissioner - apparently sidelining the CCE.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had ordered a review of Prevent referral thresholds and suggested that referrals for Islamist extremism had been 'too low', even though the Southport killer, Alex Rudakubana, was not a Muslim and police did not treat the attack as a terrorism incident.
On Tuesday, leaks revealed that the Home Office's rapid review on extremism commissioned in August recommended a move from focusing on ideology to a wide range of "behaviours".
But the government said it had rejected those recommendations, with Home Office minister Dan Jarvis saying: "Islamist extremism followed by far-right extremism are the biggest threats we face."
The CCE was set up by the Home Office in 2018 with a remit to support and advise the government on policies to tackle extremism.
Its original charter stated that it had no remit over Prevent or other counterterrorism policies. But the charter was removed without explanation in 2023, and the CCE has been operating since without one.
'Blind eye to Islam'
Middle East Eye's review of the CCE's activity on X found that it has repeatedly engaged with anonymous users and asked them to give feedback about Prevent.
These were X accounts who complained that Prevent focused too little on Islam and Muslims, or too much on far-right extremism.
There was no apparent record of the CCE engaging with X accounts who complained that Prevent targeted Muslims unfairly, a common criticism of the policy.
On 6 October last year, an anonymous X account called mark posted that Prevent training, which is mandatory for public sector workers, 'is basically about turning a blind eye to islam and focusing all your attention in the wrong place.'
Months later on 18 December, the CCE replied to the post with the same message that it sent to British Lioness, including a link to the complaints webpage.
Hello, we process and investigate complaints about Prevent and are interested in finding out more about the training referenced above. Please feel free to DM us, tweet us back, or make a formal complaint using this link. https://t.co/jB4zXmEj7g — Commission for Countering Extremism (@CommissionCE) December 18, 2024
The X account the CCE had replied to, mark, had posted earlier on 6 October calling the Quran a 'book of gibberish'. Two days before, it had said Pope Francis should 'shut the fuck up'.
On 8 October, an account called Finlay Brannon - which displayed an animated animal as its profile picture - posted complaining that 'if you do prevent training the examples used are of imaginary far right incidents'.
On 18 December, over two months later, the CCE replied, again with a post asking the account to 'DM us, tweet us back, or make a formal complaint'.
Brannon had shared a racist post on 23 September urging the 'black community' to tell the Metropolitan Police who had killed a police officer. Seemingly endorsing the post, Brannon remarked: 'Indeed'.
He had also shared a 7 September post saying: 'I lit my cigarette with Quran paper while Muslims were screaming and I was laughing', accompanied by a video of the incident.
'Fake news and a waste'
The CCE replied on 21 October to a post on 18 August by Stanley Percival Simmonds, author of the May 2024 book, A Manifesto for Saving Britain, the British, and British Culture, which argues for net-zero migration and warns that the 'complete death of Britishness is within sight'.
Simmons described Prevent training as a 'joke', saying: 'The agent of the state who was doing the training explained to us he wasn't one of those people who shies away from talking about Islamic terrorism, and then spent an hour talking about 'the far right' and Andrew Tate.'
The CCE asked him to submit a complaint.
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The same day, the commission replied to another post from 22 August by an anonymous account called Jan, whose profile read 'Lecturer. Far-Right (apparently)'.
Jan said that her Prevent training 'showed images of Lawrence Fox and Katie Hopkins as ERW [extreme right wing] examples, so it'll be interesting to see if anything has changed'.
Fox and Hopkins are prominent British far-right and anti-Islam activists. The CCE asked Jan to submit a complaint.
Also on 21 October, the CCE posted a link to the Prevent complaints form under a post by GB News commentator Connor Tomlinson from August, about the Home Office's secretive unit which, Tomlinson said, 'manipulates public opinion in the aftermath of terror attacks'.
The CCE further replied to a post beneath Tomlinson's that said: 'I've done the Prevent training. It's massively biased. Lots of "far-right" discussion and examples, islamic terrorists only briefly mentioned in passing but they quickly get back to "far-right. It's fake news and a waste, although the safeguarding bit works I believe.'
There were other instances when the CCE responded to anonymous X accounts.
Last week, right groups criticised Yvette Cooper for claiming that Prevent referrals for Islamist extremism have been 'too low' despite data indicating that Muslims are more likely than others to be wrongly reported and questioned under the counter-extremism strategy.
Hello, we process and investigate complaints about Prevent and are interested in finding out more about the training referenced above. Please feel free to DM us, tweet us back, or make a formal complaint using this link. https://t.co/jB4zXmDLhI — Commission for Countering Extremism (@CommissionCE) October 21, 2024
In August 2024, a United Nations report strongly criticised Prevent and said it was 'particularly concerned about the high number of interventions and referrals of persons belonging to Muslim communities, especially children'.
Layla Aitlhadj, director of Prevent Watch, told MEE: 'The CCE's reliance on unverified, anonymous far-right social media accounts for criticism of Prevent is a desperate attempt to amplify biased and ideologically driven narratives.'
She added that the revelations reinforce concerns about the commission's 'lack of rigour and impartiality'.
'With the announcement of an independent reviewer for Prevent, this appears to be a desperate bid to remain relevant in a shifting landscape.'
MEE contacted the CCE for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.
MEE also contacted the Home Office for comment, but was referred to the CCE.