The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has hailed a “groundbreaking agreement” with five social media companies, which it claims is helping law enforcement disrupt the work of smugglers. increase.
The deal, backed by the Home Office, was signed with Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube about a year ago.
Based on information provided by the NCA, social media companies have removed or suspended more than 3,300 posts, pages or accounts related to smuggling and organized crime during that time, the NCA claims.
“Last year saw strong partnerships between us and major social media companies aimed at preventing organized crime groups from using our platform. Together, we have created a solid foundation,” said Chris Farrimond, NCA Director of Threat Leadership.
“Tragically, there have been many deaths in the last year, not only in the English Channel, but also in the remote Mediterranean Sea. It makes us keenly aware that more needs to be done to stop these criminal groups dealing with it.”
For more information on the role of technology in human trafficking, see Europol’s ‘Hackathon’ Identifying Hundreds of Human Trafficking Victims.
More than 90 investigations are currently open against networks and individuals at the “highest echelons” of smuggling and trafficking, according to the NCA.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said the new illegal immigration law would give immigration officers new powers to seize electronic devices from people who entered the UK illegally, and could track down the smugglers who made it possible. I said it would be
But the same bill has been widely criticized, including by the UN refugee agency, for preventing legal asylum seekers from claiming asylum within the country. It has been argued that this would only lead to more people desperately resorting to traffickers.
Editorial image credit: Primakov / Shutterstock.com
