King’s College London is among 12 UK universities that paid over £440,000 to intelligence firms for services related to pro-Palestine activism on campus, an investigation has found.
A joint investigation between Al Jazeera English and investigative journalism unit Liberty Investigates has alleged that King’s was among twelve universities paying private security consultancy Horus to “spy” on students affiliated with the pro-Palestine activist movement.
The universities – including KCL, LSE and UCL – paid Horus approximately £440,000 between 2022 and 2025 for intelligence services. Among those targeted were an LSE PhD student and encampment protester, as well as a Palestinian-American academic invited to speak at Manchester Metropolitan University.
A King’s College London spokesperson said:
“Freedom of speech for students and staff is a fundamental right, and we have and will continue to support the right to peaceful protest. It is incorrect to suggest that the company is used for surveillance on students, we only use publicly available information to understand when a protest will take place to ensure we have the right resources in place for our University community, making sure events can continue safely and within the bounds of the law, while minimising disruption on campus.”
Self-described as a “leading intelligence and security consultancy with a global team of unrivalled experience”, Horus Security Consultancy was established in Oxford in 2006 by Jonathan Whiteley, a former British Army officer who served in the Intelligence Corps for twenty-three years.
The firm is chaired by Iraq War veteran Colonel Tim Collins, who previously called for the deportation of foreign protesters who desecrate national war memorials on the grounds that “people who misbehave should face the full consequences of the law.” The firm provides security services to a range of clients, from “academia to technology and banking to pharmaceuticals.”
At King’s, a Freedom of Information response showed the university used external firms including Horus and B3Sixty – which has been contracted to provide direct reports on students – for intelligence gathering and student misconduct investigations.
The university stated that these services were used to maintain “situational awareness around a range of issues and threats, including crime, terrorism, and protest,” as well as to investigate alleged student misconduct.
Crucially, King’s confirmed that the use of these services was confined solely to students, not staff.
Horus reportedly compiled intelligence reports by tracking students’ social media posts and compelling “counter-terror” style risk assessments, raising concerns about the extent of surveillance on campus political activity.
Financial disclosures indicate that King’s spent approximately £12,500 per year on Horus, alongside tens of thousands annually on Direct Reports, including over £50,000 in the 2024-2025 financial year.
While the investigation has sparked significant backlash from civil liberties groups and student advocates, Al Jazeera noted that there is no suggestion that Horus’ activity was illegal. Instead, criticism appears to be centred around the ethical implications, including around privacy and whether universities should be surveilling their own students.
Horus said it has integrated artificial intelligence into their software since 2022. The United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Gina Romero, said, “The use of AI to harvest and analyse student data under the guise of open source intelligence raises profound legal concerns.”
Universities have long defended their use of such services as necessary for campus safety and risk management, especially in the context of large-scale protests. These revelations are likely to intensify ongoing debates surrounding the boundaries between security and undermining students’ privacy.
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