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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Wil Crisp

Met police operation secretly monitors children online

YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp apps on a smartphone
Met police documents say it collects ‘children’s personal data’ from social media sites. Photograph: Florian Gaertner/Photothek/Getty Images

Children as young as 13 have been secretly monitored online as part of a continuing surveillance operation run by the Metropolitan police, the Guardian has learned.

The project could also be gathering data on much younger children, as it is not compulsory for officers to document the ages of the individuals they are targeting.

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