Twelve UK universities paid over £440,000 to a private firm run by former military intelligence officials to spy on student protesters and academics, including those supporting Palestine, a joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates has revealed.
The investigation, based on freedom of information requests sent to more than 150 universities, found that Horus Security Consultancy Limited gathered information from student social media and carried out counter-terror threat assessments on behalf of several institutions. The firm has been paid at least £443,943 between January 2022 and March 2025, according to the findings.
