The Labour Government has been accused of plotting to silence critics of taxpayer-funded hotels for asylum seekers amid a growing series of anti-migrant protests.
Whitehall officials have allegedly been flagging social media accounts to Big Tech firms which criticise immigration and "two-tier" policing.
Civil servants working for Technology Secretary Peter Kyle highlighted videos with “concerning narratives” to companies such as TikTok, warning that they were “exacerbating tensions” on the streets.
It comes as ministers fight claims that the Government is censoring users online with the Online Safety Act, including from allies of US President Donald Trump.
A series of demonstrations outside migrant hotels, including The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, have rocked communities across the UK in recent weeks and become flashpoints for tension.
According to The Daily Telegraph, members of the Government’s counter disinformation unit complained about a series of posts in August last year during the Southport riots.
One post included a photograph of a rejected Freedom of Information request about the location of migrant hotels, which also referenced asylum seekers as “undocumented fighting-age males”.
An email to TikTok also warned about accusations being shared online that white protesters had been treated more harshly by police than ethnic minorities.
It read: “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.”
The civil servant requested that the Chinese-owned platform explain “any measures you have taken in response…as soon as you are able to”.
All exchanges were revealed by Jim Jordan, who chairs the US House of Representatives’ judiciary committee.
The congressman issued a subpoena to TikTok to hand over 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.”
The National Security and Online Information Team — which is based in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology — was used during the coronavirus pandemic to monitor anti-lockdown campaigners.
Sources denied that officials had censored the posts, insisting the unit’s role was to monitor “trends” and highlight where platforms’ own guidelines had been broken.
The Big Brother Watch campaign group called for an immediate investigation into NSOIT, warning that an “unaccountable and secretive Government unit is spying on speech that is critical of the police and Government policies”.
“Legitimate concerns about racism and violence must not become a blank cheque for the monitoring and censorship of controversial speech, absent of any oversight or scrutiny,” they added.
And Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, commented: “When I called out ‘two-tier Keir’, little did I realise Starmer’s officials were pressurising tech companies to suppress debate about a ‘two-tier’ justice system.
“This Government’s cynical attack on free speech will only further erode public confidence in the criminal justice system. The solution is to apply the law evenly to all groups, not to attempt to stifle criticism.”
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.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to end the use of migrant hotels before the next general election in 2029.
There are approximately 32,000 asylum seekers in hotels, which reportedly cost the taxpayer £4 million a day and fuel unease in communities amid concerns about children’s safety and public services.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner recently told the Cabinet the Government must take concerns about immigration seriously.
