Sweden’s government said on Wednesday that it plans to introduce a law requiring social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat to remove ads of ‘murders’ by criminal gangs within an hour or face heavy fines.
Criminal gangs operating in Sweden are increasingly using social media to recruit people to commit murder and other brutal acts amid the rise of “crime as a service”.
Those recruited are often children under 15, Sweden’s age of criminal responsibility, meaning young people cannot be prosecuted and are subject to social services, making them valuable assets for gangs.
“We will be the first (in the European Union) with this type of law targeting organized crime recruitment of children and young people,” Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer told a press conference.
Killing deals have been posted on social media like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat
The right-wing minority government, backed by the far-right Sweden Democrats, has been moving through a series of proposals to tackle crime and immigration in the run-up to Sweden’s general election on 13 September.
If the proposal is passed by parliament, social media sites will be fined up to five million kroner (US$537,000) by July 15 if they fail to remove the ads in time.
