Thousands of football fans may have been secretly investigated by the Premier League’s ‘Stasi spy agency’ for their political views, a free speech campaigner warned today.
Newcastle supporter Linzi Smith, 34, was the subject of a four-month investigation by a special unit set up to expose hate speech in the game after a series of posts about trans issues on X.
Newcastle began investigating Ms Smith after receiving a complaint. They then wrote to her in November saying she was banned until 2026 for breaching the club’s equality policy, which forbids ‘discriminatory’ comments.
A friend put her in touch with a campaigner, who urged her to submit a subject access request to Newcastle United. This revealed she was the subject of a 11-page ‘Stasi’ dossier entitled Online Investigation and Target Profile – Linzi Smith.
The document had been compiled by the Premier League’s investigation unit, which was set up in 2019 to monitor abuse directed at players. It does not have a name but works towards the league’s stated aim to ‘challenge and prevent discrimination, harassment and abuse’.
Ms Smith’s case has now been taken on by the Free Speech Union, whose director – Toby Young – warned many more fans may have been targeted with similar investigations.
Linzi Smith, 34, was the subject of a four-month investigation by a special unit set up to expose racism in the game
He told MailOnline: ‘We think it’s possible that hundreds of fans, possibly thousands, are being monitored in a similar way by the Premier League’s intelligence unit.
‘That’s why the Free Speech Union is encouraging people to submit Subject Access Requests to the Premiership club they support and the Premier League to find out if there’s a file on them.’
Ms Smith, who is gay and champions lesbian, gay and bisexual rights, is now taking legal action to overturn the ban, stating that it is her right by law to express gender-critical views and that the Premier League’s actions were a breach of data protection laws.
Investigators trawled her social media posts to find her date of birth, where she lives and works and the fact that she ‘[appears] to walk their dog by [XXXX] Church which is just off [the street where she lives].’
Ms Smith said in an interview with the Free Speech Union: ‘They tried to find where I lived, they had even went as far as to get a screenshot off my twitter.
‘They searched in the search bar ”I live” to find anywhere I’ve said I live, took images of me where I used to walk my dog behind the house, got Google images of the church there and the park that’s there.
In one section of the report titled, ‘vulnerabilities’, it detailed how Ms Smith had repeatedly been a victim of online abuse, including her face having been superimposed onto an image of someone being hanged.
Now, Ms Smith, who runs a tea shop with her mother, is afraid to go out and doesn’t feel safe at home, as she doesn’t know who has seen this information.
‘It is really quite frightening because I don’t know who has seen it now. I don’t know who knows where I live or knows where I walk around.
‘You know anyone could be waiting there and it is quite frightening, I don’t feel safe walking around where I live anymore.’
The investigations unit was previously presided over by shamed Whitehall mandarin Helen MacNamara.
Ms MacNamara, who was fined by the police in the partygate scandal, was until recently the Premier League executive responsible for the policies now at the centre of Ms Smith’s legal battle.
As director of policy and corporate responsibility for the Premier League from 2021 until last year, Ms MacNamara was second in command to the chief executive.
She is responsible for the top-flight league’s privacy policy, including ‘legal and regulatory matters’ and ‘data protection’.
The report (pictured) compiled by Premiere League on Linzi Smith includes details of where she lives, works and even where she walked her dog
It resulted in Ms Smith being banned from attending games at Newcastle United until 2026
The former deputy cabinet secretary was fined £50 by police for attending a ‘raucous’ lockdown party in June 2020 at which her karaoke machine was used and there was a drunken brawl.
In a separate interview with the Telegraph, Ms Smith said she was ‘struggling’ to deal with what had happened to her.
‘It’s mind-blowing that they have gone to such lengths because I have expressed views to which I am entitled on my personal Twitter account,’ she said.
‘They have behaved like the Stasi – it was being done so covertly that I didn’t even know what was happening.
‘They kept telling me they want everyone to feel included – but it appears you’re only welcome if you follow their thought process on everything, and if you don’t you are banned. It is sinister and I feel violated, to be honest.’
Mr Young called her case ‘the most egregious example of corporate interference with free speech I’ve ever come across’ and said it was ‘like something out of 1984’.
The original complainant included screenshots taken from Ms Smith’s social media account in which she suggested that transgender people were suffering from mental illness.
Adding that they would feel ‘unsafe’ if they had to ‘share a space’ with someone who was so ‘openly transphobic’ and stated that many of Ms Smith’s posts were mocking the trans movement.
In October, Newcastle United emailed Ms Smith to inform her that she was being investigated by Northumbria Police for a possible hate crime offence and that her membership had been suspended.
It is understood that Ms Smith had not done anything to offend anyone during a match, inside the stadium or involving the club.
She is now taking legal action to overturn the ban, stating that it is her right by law to express gender-critical views and that the Premiere League’s actions were a breach of data protection laws
The 34-year-old was interviewed by police after an 11-page dossier was handed to them by Newcastle United
Linzi’s Tweet (pictured) which was flagged for investigation
Days after, Ms Smith was visited by two police officers at her home and she agreed to be interviewed under caution about her tweets for 25 minutes.
Two hours later, she received a call from police to inform her that no further action would be taken as she had not committed any offence.
Ms Smith appealed her ban but was told on January 26 that it had been upheld because her tweets ‘constitute harassment’ and go against the club’s Equality Policy.
Newcastle and the Premier League have been contacted for comment.
