Dear Commission for Countering Extremism,

RE: Freedom of Information Request in relation to social media intelligence

Background information and what is social media intelligence

This request relates to the use of overt social media intelligence (that does not include covert intelligence for which RIPA warrants are required) by your government department.

We aware of the increasing prevalence of the use of social media intelligence within central and local government for a wide variety of purposes. Please note we are not asking about whether you monitor responses to your own social media, such as whether a tweet you posted received likes or was retweeted. We are asking about whether you monitor social media of individuals in relation to investigations and intelligence gathering. Please contact us if you require clarification.

The Surveillance Commissioner’s Guidance defines overt social media monitoring as looking as [‘open source’](https://privacyinternational.org/long-re...) data, being publicly available data.

For example, in 2020 PI published it's extensive research highlighting the use of social media intelligence (SOCMINT) by local authorities. Our [report](https://privacyinternational.org/report/...) disclosed that local authorities are looking at people's social media accounts, as part of their intelligence gathering and investigation tactics in areas such as council tax payments, children’s services, benefits and monitoring protests and demonstrations.

We are also aware that the Home Office Extremism Analysis Unit gathers and procesess publicly available data from social media in order to [identify and profile individuals as extermists](https://privacyinternational.org/legal-a...).

In light of the above information, Privacy International (PI) requests the following information by way of a Freedom of Information Act request:

1. Please provide the current guidance and/or policy on the the use of (overt) social media for the monitoring/investigations/intelligence gathering purposes in relation to members of the public?
- We understand that definitions related to social media monitoring are not always clear. Please contact us if you are not clear on what we are requesting.

2. Please confirm whether you have undertaken a Data Protection Impact Assessment in relation to the use of social media for the purposes of monitoring/investigations/intelligence-gathering on members of the public. If so, please provide us with a copy.

3. Please confirm whether or not the Department has purchased software and/or hardware to conduct social media monitoring of members of the public and/or in relation to sentiment analysis?
(a) If yes please state the name of the company / provider.

(b) if no, please state whether the Department has developed internal methods to conduct social media monitoring
(c) if you are using any software or hardware to conduct social media monitoring, please describe what it does and how it works.

4. Please confirm what legal basis you are relying on when conducting overt social media monitoring for the purposes of investigations/intelligence-gathering purposes in relation to members of the public?

5. Please inform us how do you assess what constitutes a legitimate aim for your department to rely on in order to conduct overt social media monitoring?

6. Please inform us if there is an audit trail so that overt social media monitoring is recorded and periodically scrutinised for oversight purposes?

Yours faithfully,

Camilla Graham Wood
Privacy International