Information about Project Alpha

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.030443

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. How many people are currently employed on OHRT and SMH respectively?
2. How much government funding does OHRT and SMH receive annually for every year since 2019?
3. Which social media platforms does OHRT currently monitor?
4. How many videos or songs have been referred for removal by OHRT to social media platforms? Please provide the numbers for every year since 2019 broken down for each individual social media platform monitored.
5. How many videos or songs were removed from said social media platforms after referral? Please provide the numbers for every year since 2019 broken down for each individual social media platform monitored.
6. How many videos or songs have been viewed and/or listened to by OHRT since 2019? Please provide the numbers for each year since 2019.
7. How many videos or songs are currently on the MPS catalogue (or any internal catalogue of a different name which lists gang-related music; previously this at times has been referred to as Operation Domain)?
8. What are the key metrics used to decide which video or song will be placed on the MPS catalogue?
9. Who is given access to the MPS catalogue?
10. How many videos or songs monitored by OHRT have directly led to police activity such as criminal investigations, prosecutions or arrests (excluding referrals to social media platforms)? Please provide the numbers for each year since 2019.
11. In how many of these cases was the suspicion confirmed and a crime prevented? Please provide the numbers for each year since 2019 and give examples of any such cases.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Q1 - How many people are currently employed on OHRT and SMH respectively?

Project Alpha currently has 43 posts; 2 are OHRT and 41 are SMH.

Q2 - How much government funding does OHRT and SMH receive annually for every year since 2019?

The Home Office agreed to fund MPS Project Alpha between 2019-current date, as follows:
2018/19 - £93,885
2019/20 - £1,292,838
2020/21 - £1,746,661
2021/22 - £3,197,167
2022/23 - £3,388,451

Q3 - Which social media platforms does OHRT currently monitor?

The OHRT does not monitor any social media platforms. The OHRT will engage with any platform or music streaming service in order to seek removal of harmful online content likely to result in an escalation of serious youth violence. We have outlined on the spreadsheet below in answering question 4, the platforms that we have made referrals to since 2019

Q4 - How many videos or songs have been referred for removal by OHRT to social media platforms? Please provide the numbers for every year since 2019 broken down for each individual social media platform monitored.

Referrals and removals are detailed in the spreadsheet below. The request only asks for information in relation to social media, however, we have included streaming services and radio stations also to assist the applicant. Notably, all the data provided below on OHRT referrals and removals will be subject of future publication by the MPS on a periodic basis.

Q5 - How many videos or songs were removed from said social media platforms after referral?
Please provide the numbers for every year since 2019 broken down for each individual social media platform monitored.

See Q4 answer.

Q6 - How many videos or songs have been viewed and/or listened to by OHRT since 2019? Please provide the numbers for each year since 2019.

This information is not held between 2019 and 2022. During the current FY (23/24) we have made changes to recording practices so as to capture content which has been reviewed but not referred to platforms (i.e. content that has been referred into Alpha as potentially harmful material but considered by the Alpha team not to breach the platforms’ community guidelines).

Q7 - How many videos or songs are currently on the MPS catalogue (or any internal catalogue of a different name which lists gang-related music; previously this at times has been referred to as Operation Domain)?

4,148 records

Q8 - What are the key metrics used to decide which video or song will be placed on the MPS catalogue?

The current criteria for retaining records is based on whether the platform has agreed the content is harmful and breaches their community guidelines. In cases where the platform agree and remove the content, a record will be retained by the MPS. In cases where the platform do not agree & keep the content on their platform, the MPS delete the material/record.

Q9 - Who is given access to the MPS catalogue?

Only officers working within Project Alpha have access to all records.

Q10 - How many videos or songs monitored by OHRT have directly led to police activity such as criminal investigations, prosecutions or arrests (excluding referrals to social media platforms)? Please provide the numbers for each year since 2019.

3,342 items of online content have been referred for removal since 2019. While none of these referrals have resulted in a criminal investigation/prosecution against the uploader/poster of the material, numerous records have been used in criminal investigations/prosecutions (e.g. to explain motive behind serious youth violence including homicide & GBH) where the record (video) is considered by the Court to be relevant to the criminal proceedings.

Q11 - In how many of these cases was the suspicion confirmed and a crime prevented? Please provide the numbers for each year since 2019 and give examples of any such cases.

This information is not held. It is not possible to quantify crimes prevented by removal of harmful online content.