UK extremism commission solicits Prevent complaints from far-right social media

The UK's Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE) has been exposed for soliciting complaints about the "Prevent" counter-terrorism program from anonymous far-right social media accounts. An investigation by Middle East Eye reveals that the commission, in its activity on the social media platform X, interacted with posts criticizing public sector "Prevent" training, suggesting the program is "blind" to Islam while exaggerating the threat posed by the far-right.

For example, the commission responded to a comment from an account called "British Lionness," which was part of a thread about the riots in the English city of Leeds last July. At the time, hundreds took to the streets, and a double-decker bus was set on fire. Some far-right commentators online blamed Muslims and "Third World" immigrants for being behind the events. The post that sparked the discussion came from an account called "Queen Natalie," who questioned, "When have native British white people rioted on a mass scale like the cultural invaders who have come here?"

"Queen Natalie," who describes herself as "British" and "patriotic" in her X profile, stated that she was "sick of the woke ideology infecting the West." An anonymous account called "Repost X" replied in a now-deleted post, "Romanian gypsies rioted in Leeds," using a derogatory term for Roma people. The "British Lionness" account then replied complaining, "I regularly attend work-related 'Prevent' training and the woke Home Office women always say the last terror attack in the UK was by a far-right white male! In the last 3 courses over 6 months she has repeated that the far-right are the problem!"

However, the next reply in the thread did not come from another anonymous account, but from the CCE’s official X account. The CCE stated in its post, "Hi, we handle and investigate complaints about Prevent and would be interested to hear more about the training you mentioned. Feel free to DM us, reply to our tweet or use this link to make a formal complaint." The post also included a link to the government webpage "Make a complaint about Prevent." But there was no apparent reply from the "British Lionness" account. Middle East Eye's findings appear to further raise questions about the role of the commission, currently led by Robin Simcox, which the previous Conservative government tasked with overseeing the "Prevent" program following a controversial review of the scheme by William Shawcross.

Shawcross’s review called for the "Prevent" program to refocus on "Islamist extremism," while arguing that the program had been too focused on the far-right. Simcox was appointed in 2022, and his appointment drew widespread criticism due to his previous work at a think tank that has been accused of Islamophobia. Simcox had also previously criticized the "Prevent" program for focusing too much on the far-right, arguing for a greater focus on Islamist extremism. But the controversial program is now facing new scrutiny after it emerged last week that a teenager convicted of murdering three young girls in Southport last year had been referred to the "Prevent" program three times while at school.

Layla Aitlhadj, director of Prevent Watch, said: "The CCE's reliance on unverified anonymous far-right social media accounts to criticize the Prevent program is a desperate attempt to amplify a biased and ideologically driven narrative." She added that the revelations exacerbate concerns about the commission’s "lack of rigor and impartiality." "With the announcement of an independent reviewer of the Prevent program, this appears to be a last-ditch attempt to maintain relevance in a shifting landscape."

Middle East Eye contacted the CCE for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. Middle East Eye also contacted the Home Office for comment, but was referred to the CCE. A review of the CCE’s activity on X by Middle East Eye found that the commission had repeatedly interacted with anonymous users and asked them to provide feedback on the "Prevent" program. These X accounts complained that the "Prevent" program had too little focus on Islam and Muslims, or too much focus on far-right extremism. There is no apparent record of the CCE interacting with X accounts complaining that the "Prevent" program unfairly targets Muslims, a common criticism of the policy.

On October 6 last year, an anonymous X account called "mark" posted that "Prevent" training, which public sector workers are required to take, was "basically blind to Islam and putting all the focus in the wrong place." On December 18, months later, the CCE replied to the post with the same message it sent to "British Lionness," including a link to the complaints webpage. The X account "mark," to whom the CCE replied, had previously posted on October 6 that the Quran was a "book of drivel." Two days earlier, he had also said that Pope Francis should "shut his gob." On October 8, an account called "Finlay Brannon," whose profile picture was an animated animal, posted complaining that "if you do 'Prevent' training, the examples used are all fictional far-right incidents."

On December 18, more than two months later, the CCE replied again, asking the account to "DM us, reply to our tweet or make a formal complaint." Brannon had shared a racist post on September 23 urging the "black community" to tell the Metropolitan Police who killed a police officer. Brannon appeared to endorse the post, commenting, "Indeed." He had also shared a post from September 7 which read: "When Muslims scream I light my cigarette with Quran paper and I was laughing," along with a video of an incident.

The CCE replied on October 21 to a post made on August 18 by Stanley Percival Simmonds, the author of the book "A Manifesto for Saving Britain, the British and British Culture," published in May 2024, which argues for net-zero immigration and warns that "the utter death of Britishness is imminent." Simmonds called "Prevent" training a "joke," saying: "The national agency person doing the training explained to us that he wasn't one of those who shied away from talking about Islamic terrorism, then spent an hour talking about 'far right' and Andrew Tate." The CCE asked him to submit a complaint.

On the same day, the commission also replied to a post made on August 22 by another anonymous account, "Jan," whose profile reads "Lecturer. Far-right (apparently)." Jan stated that her "Prevent" training "showed images of Laurence Fox and Katie Hopkins as examples of the far right, so it will be interesting to see if anything has changed." Fox and Hopkins are prominent far-right and anti-Islam activists in the UK. The CCE asked Jan to submit a complaint. Also on October 21, the CCE posted a link to the "Prevent" complaints form under a post made in August by GB News commentator Connor Tomlinson about a "secret unit" in the Home Office that Tomlinson said "manipulated public opinion after terror attacks."

The CCE also replied to a post under Tomlinson’s thread which read: "I have been on 'Prevent' training. It is massively biased. Lots of discussion and examples about the 'far right,' Islamic terrorists are just briefly mentioned, but they soon go back to the 'far right.' It is fake news and a waste, though I suppose the safeguarding part is valid." There are several other examples of the CCE responding to anonymous X accounts. Last week, right-wing groups criticized Yvette Cooper for claiming that "Prevent" referrals for Islamist extremism were "too low," despite data showing that Muslims are more likely than others to be wrongly reported and questioned. In August 2024, a UN report strongly criticized the "Prevent" program, stating there was "particular concern about the disproportionate number of interventions and referrals of people belonging to Muslim communities, particularly children."

Layla Aitlhadj stated: "The CCE's reliance on unverified anonymous far-right social media accounts to criticize the Prevent program is a desperate attempt to amplify a biased and ideologically driven narrative." She added that the revelations exacerbate concerns about the commission’s "lack of rigor and impartiality." "With the announcement of an independent reviewer of the Prevent program, this appears to be a last-ditch attempt to maintain relevance in a shifting landscape." Middle East Eye contacted the CCE for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. Middle East Eye also contacted the Home Office for comment, but was referred to the CCE.