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The government has handed out cross-Whitehall private contracts to technology firms which will enable it to monitor what members of the public post on social media and blogs in real time, reports have claimed.
The agreement – which The Independent reports was subtly slipped out among a raft of other announcements – comes less than a week after government surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden accused the Conservative government of secretly attempting to pass legislation allowing GCHQ to spy on citizens.
Under the terms of the social media monitoring deal, five firms will provide ministers, advisers and officials with real-time information on selected keywords and topics people are discussing on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social media.
While the government has always monitored clippings from newspapers, this deal signals the first time Whitehall has publicly suggested that it wants to monitor individuals’ social media feeds.
One of the successful bidders is Precise Media Monitoring, which claims it is able to provide government ministers with “automated sentiment” analysis.
“We use advanced text analytics to generate automated analysis for all mainstream and social content. This includes analysis of the key topics being discussed, and hashtags being mentioned and the sentiment of conversations,” reads a description of its services.
Read more: Government contracts private firms to monitor public’s social media posts
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