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European Asylum Support Office specialists in Malta searched groups and channels on social media using keywords in languages such as Arabic, Pashtu, Kurdish, Edo and Amharic (Photo: Nidzara Ahmetasevic)

Investigation

Data watchdog raps EU asylum body for snooping

The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) monitored refugee networks to detect new routes and find smugglers – until the project ran into trouble with the EU's own data protection authority.

EASO combed through social media to monitor refugee routes to Europe over the past three years. The agency sent weekly reports on its findings to member states, the EU Commission and institutions such as UNHCR and Interpol.

The asylum agency, based in Malt...

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European Asylum Support Office specialists in Malta searched groups and channels on social media using keywords in languages such as Arabic, Pashtu, Kurdish, Edo and Amharic (Photo: Nidzara Ahmetasevic)

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Author Bio

Alexander Fanta is an EU correspondent for netzpolitik.org, a German news website covering digital rights issues.

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