Report: The Labour plot to silence migrant hotel critics
Campaign group Big Brother Watch has called for an investigation into the unit, claiming the emails show it is 'spying on speech that is critical of the police and Government policies'. The messages emerged as ministers continue to fight claims from US politicians - including allies of Donald Trump - that the UK's Online Safety Act is censoring social media. They will also reignite claims Labour is seeking to 'silence' critics of its continued use of asylum hotels at an estimated cost of £3billion a year.
Ministers have vowed to move all asylum seekers out of hotels by the next election, but many doubt this can be achieved. NSOIT was previously known as the Counter Disinformation Unit and set up during Covid to monitor anti-lockdown campaigners. One post flagged by a civil servant working for the unit included a photograph of a rejected Freedom of Information request about the location of asylum hotels and a reference to asylum seekers as 'undocumented fighting-age males'.
They added: 'Just to flag the context: hotels for asylum seekers have already seen targeted protests and there are significant risks of these becoming violent. 'Home Office colleagues have been in touch with us about concerns surrounding this type of content. Please could this be assessed by the Trust and Safety team? There is a definite sense of urgency from here.' The emails, obtained by the Telegraph, were sent on August 3 and 4 last year - the worst weekend of the riots that saw crowds attacking asylum hotels around the UK.
Violence erupted after false claims circulated on social media that the perpetrator of the Southport stabbings was a Muslim asylum seeker. In another email over the same weekend, an official told TikTok that users were posting about 'two-tier' policing - a reference to the claim that white protesters were treated more harshly than ethnic minorities. The email said: 'I am sure you will not be surprised at the significant volumes of anti-immigrant content directed at Muslim and Jewish communities as well as concerning narratives about the police and a 'two-tier' system we are seeing across the online environment.'
Officials asked TikTok to explain 'any measures you have taken in response…as soon as you are able to'. The private exchange came days before Elon Musk criticised 'two-tier Keir' - a phrase repeated by Nigel Farage and Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick. A third email raised concerns about a video posted on August 5 of Pakistani men celebrating on a street with the caption: 'Looks like Islamabad but it's Manchester'. A civil servant suggested it had been shared 'in order to incite fear of the Muslim community'.
None of its emails asked for the posts to be deleted but requested TikTok to explain how it was dealing with similar content. They were obtained by Jim Jordan, chair of the US House of Representatives' judiciary committee, which issued a subpoena to TikTok to share messages 'regarding the company's compliance with foreign censorship laws'. He said: 'In recent years, UK citizens have become increasingly fed up with the double standard in the UK. Mean tweets get you a longer prison sentence than many violent offences.'
Labour was recently criticised for continuing a 'cover-up' of a secret resettlement programme for Afghans put at risk by a data leak in 2022. Civil servants warned that sharing the information could create 'a risk of disorder'. A Government spokesman said: 'Free speech is a cornerstone of our democracy. The Online Safety Act protects it.
'Platforms have a duty to uphold freedom of expression, and the Act places no curbs whatsoever on what adults can say and see on the internet - unless it is something that would already be illegal, offline. 'The Government has no role in deciding what actions platforms take on legal content for adults – that is a matter for them, according to their own rules. 'However we make no apologies for flagging to platforms content which is contrary to their own terms of service and which can result in violent disorder on our streets, as we saw in the wake of the horrific Southport attack.'
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