Top UK universities paid surveillance firm to 'spy' on pro-Palestine students: report

Top British universities been revealed to have paid a private firm to "spy" on pro-Palestine protesters and academics, drawing backlash from activists.

Twelve institutions, including the University of Oxford, King's College London (KCL), University College London (UCL), the London School of Economics, and Newcastle University, were all found to have paid Horus Security Consultancy Limited to monitor campus protests, a joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates found.

"KCL paying £12,500 a year, not to improve the quality of our education, but rather to Horus, an intelligence and security consultancy, to spy on its own students is a fragment of a much wider attempt to shut down student activism on campus and to repress the voices of those advocating for Palestinian liberation and condemning KCL's complicity," a spokesperson for KCL Stands for Justice, a society in Kings College London advocating for Palestinian liberation, told The New Arab.

The spokesperson alleges that this theme of surveillance and systematic oppression is evident in many of the 27 disciplinary cases given to students for their pro-Palestinian activism. In many instances, students who took part in the Gaza encampments in 2024 were identified via pieces of their clothing or from their bags captured by the university's CCTV.

The spokesperson also alleged that a student was excluded due to a conversation on WhatsApp in which they discussed wearing a keffiyeh to a class taught by a former Israeli army soldier.

"These draconian measures are proof that the student movement is having an impact and that KCL are desperate to silence us. However, we will not let these fear-mongering tactics stop us from continuously standing for justice," the spokesperson added.

The investigation found that Horus, a firm run by former military intelligence officials, scoured through student social media feeds and conducted covert counter-terror threat assessments.

The investigation involved submitting freedom of information (FOI) requests to over 150 universities.

Other institutions include Imperial College London, the University of Sheffield, the University of Leicester, the University of Nottingham, Cardiff Metropolitan University, the University of Bristol, and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).

"We think it’s horrible that this is the type of stuff public funds is going towards. £440,00 going towards the erosion of academic freedom and freedom of speech; we need to do better," a spokesperson for MMU's Friends of Palestine society told The New Arab.

"We have completely lost trust in our university," a spokesperson for UCL's Action for Palestine Society told The New Arab.

"Spying and surveilling student activists is not only an egregious violation of students’ right to privacy and freedom of expression, but also exposes that UCL cares more about maintaining its complicity in apartheid than the wellbeing of its own students."

The spokesperson added that while UCL purportedly nurtures "change-makers", students enacting "change", demanding an end to imperialist violence and complicity with the Zionist apartheid regime, are actively surveilled and discouraged.

"We know that it is our moral obligation to stand against genocide and this will not deter us. If anything, this shows that our movement is working, that they are scared of us, and that we must carry on steadfast," the spokesperson adds.

Al Jazeera notes among those monitored was a Palestinian academic who was invited to give a guest lecture at MMU and a pro-Gaza PhD student at the London School of Economics.

At the same time, the University of Bristol allegedly provided Horus with a list of student protest groups it wanted to receive alerts about, including pro-Palestinian and animal rights groups.

"This article was not a surprise to any of us, if [University of Bristol] as an institution is okay with having millions in the murderous weapon manufacturing industry, of course [University of Bristol] also wouldn't have any problem with its conscience around spying on student protesters," a Student "M" at the Bristol Leftist Collective (BLC) at the University of Bristol told The New Arab.

The student highlights that over the last two academic years, they have witnessed "private security punching, kicking student protesters, or giving us the middle finger", while this academic year has "had security outside the library that BLC allegedly meet in".

"We want to re-focus and ground ourselves back into the larger struggle. The degree of surveillance at Bristol or any British institution can not be compared to what our Palestinians siblings go through on a daily basis."

"I re-iterate, this blatant attack on democratic rights and academic freedom falls within the larger state crackdown on free speech and dissent," Jessie Yeung, Bristol SU International Students' Officer, told The New Arab.

A spokesperson for the University of Bristol told Al Jazeera that the firm gathers "publicly available information on any protest activity by any group in the city that could potentially affect the safety of our university community".

The spokesperson added that the gathering helps the university "make informed decisions on where [their] security staff may be needed to provide support and if information needs to be conveyed to students and staff".

Responding to the statement, Yeung said: "I acknowledge that the university has claimed that it is only for 'safety' and 'no staff or students have been the subject' - if that is the case, the university should disclose the full extent of surveillance conducted."

In total, universities across the UK paid Horus £443,943 ($587,399) between January 2022 and March 2025. The firm did not respond to Al Jazeera's questions about the allegations.

"It's disgraceful that any university would surveil its own students in an attempt to suppress protest," Stella Swain, Youth and Student officer for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told The New Arab.

Swain notes that the PSC's research has found that universities collectively invest almost £460 million in companies complicit in Israel's occupation and genocide, which she says students are "rightly angry about" and "are right to protest over it".

"These revelations show that universities feel that their complicity is threatened by powerful student organising," Swain adds.

"Students across the country are coming together in greater numbers than ever before, organising to end their institutions' complicity, and hiring the services of an ex-military private 'security' firm won't stop them."