More than 8,000 social media accounts linked to people smuggling taken down
More than 8,000 social media accounts linked to people smuggling taken down
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More than 8,000 social media accounts linked to people smuggling were taken down following referrals from the National Crime Agency (NCA) last year, the law enforcement body said. This was a 40% increase from the 5,600 accounts removed in 2023, and means more than 16,500 have been taken down in total since the NCA launched its social media action plan with Meta, X (formerly known as Twitter), TikTok and YouTube in December 2021.
The accounts taken down in the course of the operation included posts that falsely promoted small boat crossings from France to the UK as being via speedboat and offered prizes to migrants who referred a friend, as well as fake ID documents for sale. Social media remains a key way the organised crime groups involved in people smuggling promoting their illegal services to migrants. It is a major part of their business model.
Others also offered transport from Africa to southern Europe. Sophie Austin, operations manager at the NCA’s Online Communication Centre, said: “Social media remains a key way the organised crime groups involved in people smuggling promoting their illegal services to migrants.
“It is a major part of their business model. “Once migrants are engaged they then move conversations onto encrypted messaging apps where they are hidden from law enforcement. “Taking down these accounts disrupts the activities of those criminal networks, we are devoting more resources to doing that as it is one of a number of ways we can actively target them and make their life more difficult.”.
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