Fake Home Office website targeting asylum seekers probed by Information Commissioner

Exclusive: ‘Organisations must be clear, open and honest with people about who they are,’ watchdog says

The On The Move website, which was set up by the Home Office but does not disclose its affiliation (screengrab)

The Information Commissioner is probing a complaint about a Home Office website accused of misleading asylum seekers and hiding government links.

The watchdog warned that organisations must be “clear, open and honest with people” about who they are after The Independent revealed who was behind the On The Move website.

It claims to “provide migrants in transit with free, reliable and important information”, but was created as part of a campaign to deter them from crossing the English Channel.

The website, using a .org domain commonly associated with charities, contains no government branding and the “about us” section does not disclose any link to the Home Office.

It also invites asylum seekers to email On The Move with questions, without knowing that they would be contacting the British government.

A spokesperson for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said: “We have received a complaint on this matter and we will be assessing the information provided.

“Organisations must use people’s data transparently. This means organisations must be clear, open and honest with people from the start about who they are, and how and why they use their personal data.”

The watchdog will assess the complaint and decide whether to launch a full investigation or take further action.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour’s shadow home secretary, called the campaign “false, disgraceful and dehumanising” and called for the government to tackle people smuggling by creating more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers.

The Home Office started its campaign amid record small boat crossings over the English Channel, although overall asylum applications to the UK have fallen in the last year.

A new daily record of 482 people crossed the Dover Strait on Wednesday, pushing the total arrivals so far in 2021 over 10,000.

The prime minister’s spokesperson called the crossings “dangerous and unnecessary” on Friday, and vowed to push ahead with controversial laws aiming to criminalise asylum seekers who arrive on small boats.

The government has paid France millions of pounds to increase security along its northern coast, but successive agreements have been followed by rising crossings.

Campaigners have argued that the government should focus on giving asylum seekers safe and legal alternatives for reaching the UK, and a parliamentary report in 2019 warned that “focusing exclusively on closing borders will drive migrants to take more dangerous routes, and push them into the hands of criminal groups”.

The On The Move website is part of wider efforts by the government to discourage asylum seekers who have already reached France and Belgium from continuing their journey to the UK.

Facebook and Instagram posts linking to the website were pushed out to asylum seekers in the countries in multiple languages as part of a campaign that cost the government £23,000 between December and April.

The Home Office said posts linking to On The Move were made from its “clearly-branded” official Facebook and Instagram accounts and that the information was not misleading.

Disinformation flagging service NewsGuard gave the website a trustworthiness rating of 39.5 out of 100, highlighting a lack of transparency over ownership or financing, and “vague or opinionated” information.

Its rating reads: “The site presents itself as a neutral source, but appears to be surreptitiously directed by the UK government to deter irregular migrants … MigrantsOnTheMove.org appears to advance the agenda of its undisclosed owner, the British government, without disclosing the site’s policy agenda and perspective.”

The website, which remains online, tells readers the UK “regularly returns people who enter via irregular routes” but it has not been able to deport asylum seekers to EU countries since 1 January because of Brexit.

It also claims that steering a dinghy across the English Channel “is a crime”, although controversial prosecutions of boat pilots have recently been limited.

NewsGuard found that On The Move was built by a company called Seefar, which also runs other migration-related websites including a network called The Migrant Project.

The company’s website lists the British government as a supporter but when asked by The Independent, the Home Office would not say whether it had funded The Migrant Project or other Seefar projects aiming to discourage asylum seekers from journeying to the UK.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are seeing an unacceptable rise in dangerous and unnecessary small boat crossings. While lives are at risk, we make no apology for providing potentially lifesaving information to migrants and highlighting the risk of these deadly journeys.”