A little-known British government unit is facing scrutiny for allegedly using propaganda to undermine anti-immigration movements and concerns of radical Islam in the country.
According to a report by the Daily Mail, the Research, Information and Communications Unit, or RICU, is a secret government unit tasked with influencing public narratives related to terrorism, extremism, and immigration. The unit was established in 2007 as part of the UK’s Prevent counter-extremism strategy, employs around 22 staff members, and operates from the Home Office’s headquarters in Westminster.
RICU was founded by Charles Farr, a former MI6 officer. It is reportedly modelled after the Information Research Department, a propaganda unit that was established in 1948 to blacken the names of communists.
The original intent of RICU was to stop the spread of Al Qaeda propaganda and vet language that public officials use when describing terrorism. However, as recent protesters took to the streets in Northern Ireland after the attempted beheading of a Belfast man by a Sudanese migrant, RICU advised police how to “control the narrative.”
“They are working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland's C3 intelligence unit to identify those posting the online 'calls to protest' in Belfast and other areas, as well as giving strategic messages to the police to ensure that the protesters were portrayed as unsympathetic thugs, rather than activists, and effecting behavioural change,” a source told the outlet.
The source also said that the unit was working with Southampton police following the detention of Henry Nowak, saying, “RICU made sure that the liaison team dealing with the family were well briefed.”
Among the more concerning allegations are claims that the unit assists the families of victims in high-profile racial incidents when they speak to the media, helping draft public statements.
“You can see their fingerprints all over the statements released by the families of victims in these volatile situations – they usually have a similar tone,” the source said.
Last year, RICU recommended that police increase the number of cited “non-crime hate incidents,” the UK policy in which police have punished residents for making comments that can be interpreted as racially hateful towards certain groups.
After a British aid worker was decapitated by ISIS in 2014, RICU created a “front operation” to plant in the UK media an image of a woman in a Union Jack hijab. In 2016, it secretly funded a boyband group to go to Muslim areas and sing anti-radicalization songs, including schools in Sheffield, Manchester and Runcorn.
Sir William Shawcross, who conducted a review of the Prevent strategy in 2023, said RICU appeared to apply different standards when evaluating so-called far-right threats compared to Islamic extremists. This coincides with a report that RICU claimed the Pakistani grooming gangs were being exploited by far-right groups to stir hatred against Muslims.
“The bar for what RICU includes on Islamism looks to be relatively high, whereas the bar for what is included on the extreme Right-wing is comparably low,” Shawcross explained.
