Home Office minister assures free speech is 'not being monitored' by Whitehall's online 'spy unit'

Whitehall's spy unit has reportedly been used by the government to target social media posts

criticising migrant hotels and two-tier policing. Well, according to the Telegraph newspaper

emails obtained by a US committee reveal that civil servants raise concerns with social media

platforms, warning that certain posts contained concerning narratives. The reports have sparked

accusations of state censorship, something the Home Office strenuously denies. Well, meanwhile, the number of foreign-born prisoners in England and Wales

is now higher than at any point since 2013, accounting for one in eight of the total prison population

Let's cross to Westminster. We can talk to the Home Office Minister, Diana Johnson

Good morning to you. It's lovely to see you this morning. Good morning

What can you tell us about, well, not only this, the Telegraph claims that there's this sort of Whitehall spy group

looking at our tweets and what have you, but also we know the Home Office itself announced last week it was setting up

this elite police force to look at anti tweets Are we having our free speech monitored No we are not having our free speech monitored at all It is absolutely not We are not having our free speech monitored No we not having our free speech monitored at all And it absolutely right that people can express their views within the law on social media

What I would say is that the police, and particularly last autumn, when we had the disorder in August

actually, it was absolutely right that the police should be looking and monitoring what was being put onto social media

in terms of organisation of riots and have that information to allow them then

to plan what they needed to provide in terms of protecting the public

So that's what that's about. Can I also just say the story in the Telegraph

my understanding is that that unit that's referred to was actually set up under the previous government

and also that no officials have ever asked for anything to be taken down

in terms of expressing a sentiment about immigration or hotels. people very uncomfortable that civil servants and officials working for

Peter Carr, the technology secretary, have flagged videos with concerning narratives to social media giants. So who decides what is and what isn't

a concerning narrative Well obviously there are issues around incitement and if there is criminal offences being committed that is a matter for the police and

also for social media companies to take down that type of content. But in

terms of free speech, of people being able to express their views freely

that is a very important part of our democracy. It is not something that I

recognise as being impeded by the actions that the police, who I have some knowledge of, are taking in terms of keeping us safe and monitoring social media for anything that might be moving towards rioting or disorder in the way we saw last summer

You see, what strikes me with all of this, and I'm more interested in a sense in the elite police unit

that the Home Office announced last week when it comes to these sort of issues

is what you want to talk about today is the fact that there's been this Plan for Change initiative

involving police and communities hit by knife crime and the fact it has seen a reduction in knife crime

and people being threatened by knives, which is brilliant news It a plague in this country It really really positive that action is being taken with this But I can help but look at this and go well if this is being

driven by working with the police, why are we taking police from all over the country

to set up an elite force to look at tweets? No, I don't think that's an accurate reflection of what's happening. If you recall last summer

One of the issues was about the use of social media in terms of that disorder

and the fact that the police were monitoring what was going on, the call to attend at certain places

and then there was disorder that resulted because of that. What came out of the review of what happened last summer

was that we need to be smarter about using social media to identify where problems are developing

And that's what this new unit is about. It's about having a more coordinated response for police forces

to understand where communities may be being put in danger because of organisation around riots and violent disorder

That's what it's about. It's certainly not about monitoring or looking at free speech

and people's ability to say what they believe should or shouldn't happen

in terms of immigration policy