Oxford University issues comment on student ‘spying’

A spokesperson for the university said the reports are “inaccurate” while acknowledging that external safety consultants are on the payroll.

The joint probe by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates found that intelligence firm Horus, which is in St Aldate’s in Oxford, has been paid at least £440,000 by universities since 2022.

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These universities allegedly include Oxford, Imperial College London and the University of Leicester.

The activity is not suggested as being illegal.

Central to the allegations is Horus’ Insight tool which provides clients with open-source intelligence reports compiled using a range of internet sources.

Horus Security is based at St Aldate’s, Oxford (Image: NQ)

The business was set up within Oxford’s security team by former Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Whiteley in the early noughties and has since been integrating artificial intelligence into its work.

According to the Al Jazeera report, this raises ethical questions and could result in a disproportionate amount of data being collected.

Among the specific examples cited of students monitored is Lizzie Hobbs who took part in a month-long protest at the London School of Economics.

One of her social media posts was allegedly flagged by Horus to the London university.

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Other examples include the University of Bristol requesting a bespoke alert service encompassing anything related to student protest in the city.

Responding to the allegations, an Oxford University spokesperson said: “Allegations of surveillance are inaccurate.

“External security consultants are used solely to carry out safety risk assessments for public events and known protests—not to monitor individuals or political activity.”