London Police under Scrutiny for Secretly Monitoring Minors on Social Media: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The London Metropolitan Police is reportedly "secretly monitoring" children as young as 13 on social media platforms in an effort to combat online violence, potentially breaching data laws, according to a report published in a British newspaper on Tuesday, citing police documents.
Referred to as Project Alpha, the initiative enables the Metropolitan Police to collect "children's personal data" from social media sites with the aim of identifying offenders and removing videos depicting stabbings and shootings from platforms like YouTube, as per the report. While the police could also be gathering data on much younger children, officers are not required to document the ages of the individuals they target.
Human rights organizations have expressed concerns about potential violations of data laws and the disproportionate targeting of children from racial minorities. The Liberty advocacy group highlighted laws such as the Human Rights Act, the Equality Act, and the Data Protection Act, indicating the need for compliance, as conveyed to the newspaper.
In response, the police stated that they were not using the collected information for profiling individuals, despite the expansion of surveillance in 2023. "The Met does not track or profile any individual of any age through Project Alpha. All activities of Project Alpha are generated as a result of a criminal offense or safeguarding concern," the police said in a statement.
According to data obtained by the Point Source research group, the police have created approximately 7,000 records under Project Alpha, with the youngest age recorded being 13, as reported by the newspaper. Each record may include online content, social media account details, age, and ethnicity of the monitored individuals.
A spokesperson from the UK Home Office was quoted by the newspaper as stating, "Project Alpha tackles gang-related serious violence and organized criminality by taking action against related harmful online activity, to keep our communities safe." The spokesperson added that the project is supported by safeguards to ensure there is no unlawful discrimination against any protected characteristic.
Both the police and the Home Office declined to comment on measures taken to prevent racist or discriminatory practices within the framework of Project Alpha, noted the report.