A KCL Academic has been stopped from giving a talk to a government department because she has previously been critical of the government on social media.
Dr Kate Devlin, a reader in artificial intelligence and society, stated she was supposed to give a lunchtime talk to a civil service staff network within a government department on Monday. The talk was to be about on women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). In particular, she was set to speak on the problem with the lack of diversity in artificial intelligence.
The event was intended to link to Ada Lovelace Day on Tuesday, a celebration of women in STEM. However, after the government department looked through her social media accounts, they rescinded Devlin’s invitation to speak.
“The email I received from the department involved said that they ‘would not sign off on speakers who had any social media content (however historic) which was negative of the government in any way’,” she told Roar.
The KCL Academic informed us how she received this email despite the Cabinet Office telling The Independent that “the civil service does not have policies in place to block speakers if they share critical tweets.”
“I’m not sure which of my past tweets were the problem, although I have been openly critical of the current online safety bill, so it might well be that.”
Devlin’s response
On Twitter, she stated she was made aware the government department would assess her social media.
In the same thread, she tweeted “I am openly critical of some govt policies: I’m a board member of the @OpenRightsGroup and, as such, I am opposed to the online harms bill in its current form.” She added that her criticism “comes from years of research” and that she does not limit it to the current government.
Today's Mail headlines are yelling about "campus wokery", but I've just been blocked from talking to a UK government dept (about women in STEM) because I was critical about UK government policy (unrelated to women in STEM): a thread ???? [1/7]
— Kate Devlin ???????????? (@drkatedevlin) October 10, 2022
Devlin told Roar she found the withdrawal of the invitation “deeply ironic” considering its taking place while the government is pushing the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill.
“The current government is positioning itself as a defender of free speech while simultaneously shutting down valid criticism.”
She also noted that her talk was not by any means political: “my talk was simply a talk on the gender gap in tech. It was not about any policies and it was not party political. However, this due diligence on guest speakers is now apparently civil service policy, according to a leaked memo from last year.”
Devlin’s message for students
Devlin’s message for students is that the proposed Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill concerns not only academics but students.
“It is a bill that serves the interests of those on government, not those in universities. As many people, including the NUS, have pointed out, there is no evidence of a freedom of speech crisis on campuses.”
She finished her correspondence with us with a reminder of the dangers of censorship.
“I’d like to add that the talk I was due to give was about women in STEM, particularly in my area: AI. Discrimination – both algorithmically and in the workplace – is a barrier to equality. I am pleased to be able to teach about this – and ways to address this – in my modules at King’s.”
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