Ministers to tackle TikTok gangs who arrange Channel migrant crossings

2023-01-17

Ministers will tackle TikTok gangs who use social media to arrange dangerous Channel crossings for migrants

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan has said gangs using TikTok will be targeted
New Online Safety Bill can punish those facilitating migrant crossings, she said
Smuggling gangs have repeatedly used social media to advertise their services

Ministers have pledged to tackle the ‘TikTok traffickers’ on social media encouraging migrants to make the dangerous crossing of the Channel.

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said the new Online Safety Bill will be used to punish crime groups who are ‘increasingly using social media to facilitate migrant crossings’ by showing the journey in a ‘positive light’.

The measure was yesterday tabled as an amendment to the law by backbench Tory MP Natalie Elphicke and also received backing from senior Conservatives including Sir Graham Brady and Theresa Villiers.

It had threatened to inflict Rishi Sunak’s first parliamentary defeat if it had been put to a vote.

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan, pictured here outside Downing Street on Tuesday, said the new Online Safety Bill will be used to punish crime groups

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought into the Port of Dover by a Border Force vessel in November last year

But hours before the Online Safety Bill was brought back to the Commons, Ms Donelan confirmed the Government would work with Mrs Elphicke and her supporters to crack down on people smugglers exploiting people through social media.

She said section 24 of the Immigration Act would be added to the list of priority offences in the Bill, adding: ‘Aiding, abetting, counselling, conspiring etc, posting videos of people crossing the Channel which show that in a positive light could be an offence… and therefore falls within priority illegal content.

‘The result of this amendment would be that platforms would have to proactively remove that content.’

Smuggling gangs have repeatedly used social media to advertise their services. A Daily Mail investigation found Albanian criminals charging up to £20,000 to get people to the UK were brazenly marketing themselves on TikTok.

Mrs Elphicke said she tabled her amendment to ‘tackle the Tiktok traffickers’ and ensure promoting or facilitating illegal immigration becomes a criminal offence. She added: ‘We must use every tool in the toolbox to tackle illegal immigration and modern slavery.

‘This amendment provides another tool in tackling the TikTok traffickers who use social media to ply their criminal trade.’

Under a different planned amendment, which will be tabled in the House of Lords as the legislation progresses, social media firms will be held criminally liable if they fail to take action on such videos.

Ministers also backed down having come under pressure from almost 50 Tory rebels demanding that tech firm bosses should be jailed for breaches of their duty of care to young users.

They had urged ministers to accept a separate amendment to the Online Safety Bill threatening up to two years behind bars for bosses who neglect this responsibility.

An 11th-hour deal was struck before yesterday’s debate, with Ms Donelan saying the Government would table an alternative amendment in the Lords. ‘This amendment will… hold people accountable for their actions… whilst ensuring the UK remains an attractive place for technology companies to invest,’ she said.

‘It gives the Act additional teeth to ensure that people are held to account if they fail to properly protect children.’

Sally-Ann Hart, one of the Conservative MPs who helped introduce this amendment, said: ‘I am delighted that the Government has committed to laying an amendment to the Online Safety Bill which introduces individual criminal liability for failure to comply with a notice to end contravention.

‘This will achieve what the MP amendment set out to do – protect children. Introducing senior manager liability is a huge step forward for child protection in the UK.’

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