UK Cabinet Office to Vet Guest Speakers by Checking Their Social Media Accounts

Britain's Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg addresses delegates during the Conservative Party Spring Conference, at Blackpool Winter Gardens in Blackpool, north-west England, on March 18, 2022. Paul Ellis /AFP via Getty Images

Civil servants at the UK’s Cabinet Office were told to check potential guest speakers’ social media accounts before inviting them, it emerged on Sunday.

According to the Financial Times, government efficiency minister Jacob Rees-Mogg set out new rules on the vetting of guests who take part in “learning and development events” that include combing through the guests’ social media posts in the past three to five years to look for “potentially problematic or controversial material that may contravene civil service values.”