UK Universities Spent Over £440,000 on Private Firm to Spy on Student Protesters
A shocking joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates has uncovered that twelve universities in the United Kingdom paid more than £440,000 to a private security consultancy run by former military intelligence officials. The firm was hired to conduct surveillance on student protesters and academics, with a particular focus on those expressing support for Palestine.
Extensive Monitoring of Student Activities
The investigation, which utilized freedom of information requests sent to over 150 universities, found that Horus Security Consultancy Limited collected information from student social media accounts and performed counter-terror threat assessments on behalf of several prestigious institutions. According to the findings, the firm received at least £443,943 in payments between January 2022 and March 2025.
Universities that engaged Horus's services include:
- University of Oxford
- Imperial College London
- University College London
- King's College London
- University of Sheffield
- University of Leicester
- University of Nottingham
- Cardiff Metropolitan University
It is important to note that there is no suggestion that this monitoring activity was illegal, but it has raised significant ethical and privacy concerns.
Targeted Surveillance of Individuals
Documents reviewed by the investigators show that Horus tracked a wide range of individuals, including a Palestinian academic invited to speak at Manchester Metropolitan University and a pro-Gaza PhD student at the London School of Economics. In one particularly revealing case, internal emails from October 2024 showed the University of Bristol provided Horus with a list of student protest groups and requested alerts about their activities. These groups included pro-Palestinian activists and animal rights campaigners.
Seven universities refused to disclose details of the briefings they received, citing confidentiality or commercial sensitivity, even though the information was based on publicly available data.
Case Studies: Students and Academics Under Scrutiny
Case 1: LSE Student Flagged in Reports
One individual identified in the investigation was Lizzie Hobbs, a PhD student at the London School of Economics. A briefing sent to the university's security team on June 18, 2024, included a social media post she had written just one day earlier. Her post, along with thousands of others, was part of daily "encampment updates" compiled by Horus and sold to universities for £900 per month.
Hobbs stated she only became aware of this surveillance after being contacted by Al Jazeera. "We knew surveillance was happening by the university, but it is shocking to see how systematised it is," she said. She added that it was "deeply scary" to see how much money universities were willing to spend on such monitoring.
Case 2: Academic Subject to Counter-Terror Assessment
In another instance, Palestinian-American academic Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi was subjected to a counter-terror "threat assessment" before a lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2023. Documents obtained by Liberty Investigates reveal that the university asked Horus on April 6, 2023, to assess the 70-year-old scholar ahead of her planned talk. This request was made under obligations linked to the UK's Prevent programme, which requires universities to evaluate risks associated with external speakers.
Reacting to the findings, Abdulhadi told Al Jazeera: "You're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty … but they actually made an assumption of guilt and started investigating me because of my scholarship." She further questioned: "What am I supposed to study and teach about to avoid this unwarranted, unfair and unjust scrutiny and surveillance?"
The university later permitted the event to proceed with security present, stating there was no evidence linking her to banned groups and that any protest risk was unlikely to turn violent.
University Defenses and Broader Concerns
Several universities defended their use of external intelligence services. The University of Sheffield explained it employs such tools to "horizon scan" for potential issues like large-scale protests and emphasized it was "incorrect" to suggest this aimed to discourage activism. Imperial College London asserted it does not surveil students and uses Horus to "help identify potential security risks to its community," noting that the information is drawn from the public domain.
However, concerns over surveillance and data use have been raised by prominent figures. Gina Romero, UN special rapporteur for freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, expressed alarm: "The use of AI to harvest and analyse student data under the guise of open source intelligence raises profound legal concerns." She warned that such practices enable large-scale data collection without public oversight and could be used in ways individuals cannot anticipate.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, criticized the practice as "shameful," stating that universities had "wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds spying on their own students." Romero further described the situation as contributing to a "state of terror" among some student activists, noting that many are experiencing psychological trauma, mental exhaustion, and burnout, with some leaving activism altogether.
Firm Background and Response
Horus was founded in 2006 within the University of Oxford's security team by former Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Whiteley. Its leadership includes Colonel Tim Collins, who has publicly associated pro-Gaza protests with foreign influence campaigns and advocated for stricter action against demonstrators.
Despite multiple requests for comment from Al Jazeera English in late March and early April, the firm did not respond. On its website, Horus claims to follow "the strongest ethics" and operate in a legally compliant manner.
