Privacy International have produced a guide for anyone concerned about their social media accounts being monitored by public authorities – but the guide is especially targeted at people from minority and migrant communities who may be disproportionately affected by various forms of surveillance.

In their recent report, Privacy International showed that Local Authorities were looking at people’s social media accounts, such as Facebook, as part of their intelligence gathering and investigation tactics in areas such as council tax payments, children’s services, benefits and monitoring protests and demonstrations.

The Home Office have also been known to monitor social media – both in assessing the need for asylum support, and when making decisions in asylum and immigration cases.

The guide looks at good practices and settings for Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter, Viber and WhatsApp.