Sweden and Denmark to pressure tech platforms over gang crime ads
Adds comment from Telegram in paragraphs 10 and 11
STOCKHOLM/COPENHAGEN, Aug 21 (Reuters) -Sweden and Denmark will summon tech companies over ads on their platforms that are posted by gangs to recruit young Swedes to commit violent crimes in the Nordics, the justice ministers of the two countries said on Wednesday.
Sweden has been having a decade-long problem with gang violence and youth crime and the other Nordic countries are worried that it is starting to spill over the borders.
Since April, there have been 25 instances in which Swedish gang members have been hired by Danish gangs for violent attacks on rivals in Denmark, many times through ads on messaging platforms such as Telegram.
Swedish Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer told a joint news conference with his Danish counterpart that the gangs were innovative and had started recruiting youngsters online.
"We will summon these platforms and hold them accountable for what is happening in our common Nordic sphere. It is about asking the very legitimate question: What are you doing? Are you doing enough?," he said without naming any specific company.
"And if the answers are not satisfactory, we must consider whether there is something we can do to further put pressure on these platforms to work more on prevention more effectively."
Danish Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard said encrypted services and social media - naming Telegram and TikTok - were widely used to facilitate crime and that if it was up to him alone, some communication platforms would be geoblocked and shut down.
"This is not legally possible today. But we are constantly trying to see if these avenues can be developed and found," he said.
A TikTok spokesperson for the Nordics said the company had no comment on the ministers' statement but added it was looking forward to working with the governments on the issue.
Telegram said that it abided by the EU's Digital Service Act and that recruitment for illegal acts was forbidden on the platform.
"Moderators proactively monitor public parts of the platform, use AI tools and accept user reports in order to remove millions of pieces of content each day that breach Telegram's terms of service," the company said in statement to Reuters.
Meta and X did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Sweden last week announced the Nordic countries would increase police cooperation and establish a hub in Stockholm to prevent the country's gang crime problem from spreading to Norway, Finland and Denmark.
Denmark intensified security control at its Swedish border this summer and started monitoring train passengers arriving from Sweden more actively, as the EU's open borders have made it easier for criminals to move around the Nordic region.
Sweden has the highest per-capita rate of gun violence in the European Union. Last year 55 people were shot dead in 363 separate incidents in a country of just 10 million people. By comparison, there were just six fatal shootings in the three other Nordic countries combined.
Reporting by Johan Ahlander in Stockholm and Isabelle Yr Carlsson and Louise Breusch Rasmussen in Copenhagen; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Sandra Maler
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
