This ground-breaking report into the role of RICU and its utility under Prevent was released by CAGE in May 2016.
It revealed that the Home Office, together with a secretive government department called RICU (the Research, Information and Communications Unit) have been cultivating a network of ‘grass roots’ Muslim voices to promote state-scripted narratives.
Co-authored by Asim Qureshi and Ben Hayes, the report’s findings were broken by a reporting team headed up by Ian Cobain at The Guardian, and picked up by The Independent.
It revealed how the UK government’s use of the Official Secrets Act to protect a PR company, Breakthrough Media, and conceal its role in producing state-sponsored propaganda, was reminiscent of cold-war era propaganda strategies under the guise of “preventing extremism”.
It also highlighted that this is taking place with no public debate or oversight.
Download the report HERE.
Related Resources
- It was reported in April 2022, that RICU had been awarded a million-pound contract by the Home Office.
- Browse our full Resource archives for more on Prevent and psychological control.
- Embedding Infrastructures of Surveillance in Muslim Communities (Report, 2018)
- Prevent and Counter-Extremism as Counter-Insurgency (Journal Article, 2017)
