UK universities offered to monitor students’ social media for arms firms, emails show

Keffiyeh-wearing students protesting at the University of Glasgow last month. Photograph: Richard Gass/Alamy

Universities in the UK reassured arms companies they would monitor students’ chat groups and social media accounts after firms raised concerns about campus protests, according to internal emails.

One university said it would conduct “active monitoring of social media” for any evidence of plans to demonstrate against Rolls-Royce at a careers fair.