Campaign · Digital identity

Digital ID must get hate right

The government is developing a national digital ID. It should include hate. It should be simple, optional and accurate.

What's the problem?

The government is developing a national digital identity scheme. The scheme, as currently proposed, will record an individual's name, date of birth, address, and certain other attributes considered relevant to participation in public life.

It will not record hate.

Hate Matters considers this an omission of foundational significance. An identity scheme that records who a person is without recording what they hate cannot fairly be called accurate. It cannot be called simple. It is, in our view, a scheme that has not yet finished its thinking.

We have produced a 240-page briefing on this subject. The executive summary is on page one. The argument on page one is: the scheme must record hate. Pages two through two hundred and forty elaborate on page one. We commend the briefing to the relevant minister, who has received it seven times.

The argument against including hate in digital ID typically rests on one of three positions: that it is technically unnecessary; that it conflicts with data-minimisation principles; or that it is unclear what "hate" would mean as a first-class data attribute in an identity scheme. We have considered all three positions carefully, clearly, and at length. We remain unpersuaded.

What's the solution?

  1. Digital ID must include hate as a first-class personal attribute, recorded alongside name and date of birth
  2. The hate attribute must be simple to declare, optional to include, and accurate when declared
  3. No citizen should be compelled to record more hate than they hold
  4. An independent body must be established to oversee hate declaration standards. Hate Matters is available to chair this body and considers itself well-placed to do so.
  5. The government must consult Hate Matters at every stage of the scheme's development. We note that the government has not done this. We note it clearly and without bitterness.

What can you do?

Write to your MP. Our template letter is available in the Hate Library. It is one page. It has been used by several supporters. One response was received. It was not supportive. We have a follow-up template.

Share our briefing. It is 240 pages. We recommend the executive summary for constituents with limited time. The executive summary is one page. The one page says: digital ID must record hate.

Sign our open letter. It currently has thirty-one signatures, four of which are trustees. We consider thirty-one a meaningful mandate and we are seeking thirty-two.

Take action now. Sign the open letter calling on the government to ensure digital ID gets hate right.

Read the open letter

Updates

  • April 2026Hate Matters submitted further written evidence to the Identity and Attributes Trust consultation. This is our seventh submission. We are aware they have received it. We await their response with patience that is, frankly, considerable.
  • Feb 2026A minister's office acknowledged our correspondence. The acknowledgement thanked us for writing and did not address our points. We have written again, with the points numbered for ease of reference.
  • Nov 2025Our briefing was cited in a parliamentary debate. The MP who cited it mispronounced "Hate Matters" as "Hate Matters?" with what the transcript describes as "a rising inflection". We have added a pronunciation guide to the briefing cover page.
  • Sept 2025We attended the Digital Identity consultation workshop. We were invited to attend. We were not invited to present. We presented anyway. We were asked to wrap up. We wrapped up. We distributed the briefing at the door.
  • July 2025We published the briefing. It is 240 pages. Several people have confirmed they received it. Several others have confirmed the same with slightly different phrasing.

In the media & resources

  • Hate Matters Quarterly, Issue 6"Digital ID: where we are, why we are right, and who has not yet replied to our seventh submission"
  • Podcast"What the Government Gets Wrong, Episode 14: Digital ID" — hosted by Duncan Chell, self-described leading expert in the field. Available wherever podcasts are found. Currently rated three stars. One reviewer noted it was "very confident".
  • DownloadDigital ID Must Get Hate Right: the 240-page briefing — read the briefing, pending final formatting since March 2025
  • DownloadTemplate letter to your MP on digital ID — available in the Hate Library