After the governments of Sweden and Denmark joined forces to put pressure on the social media giants regarding the criminal gangs’ recruitment of children online, voices are now being raised from the EU. Swedish EU parliamentarians want all member states to come together to stop the development.
Meanwhile, Snapchat, Meta, Google and Tiktok have agreed to talks with the government.
No direct action
The upcoming conversation between the government and social media companies may lead to better dialogue, but not much more than that, says Måns Jonasson at the Internet Foundation.
– I don’t think we can expect very much direct action right now, that “we will do this”, and so it changes everything. It’s a lot about listening to each other. The government wants to hear “can you do more to stop this”. The tech giants want to hear “how can we help to stop this”, says Måns Jonasson.
– Snapchat stands out as one of the biggest channels, which almost all teenagers use. It is the channel you want to use if you want to reach young people. This applies to gangs, as well as companies and organisations, says Måns Jonasson.
Meeting with the Giants in October
The government’s meeting with the companies is to be held on October 2, Svenska dagbladet learns. At the same time, several parties want the EU to come together on the issue. Partly to put pressure through talks, partly by producing tougher laws.
– We need joint EU legislation, for the social media platforms to take that responsibility. Gang crime is not something that only exists in Sweden and Denmark. We have the European Union as an important tool to address the common problems of gang crime, says Evin Incir, (S), MEP.
– The EU countries need to come together and put hard against hard. If you can see that social media is a platform, becomes a recruitment base for drawing young people into serious crime dangerous to society, then the internet giants clearly have a responsibility, says Karin Karlsbro (L), Member of the European Parliament.
Does not give an interview
The news has applied to all companies, but no one is willing to be interviewed. However, Snapchat, Google and Tiktok state that they agreed to talks with the Minister of Justice and provide written comments to TV4 Nyheterna.
“We look forward to sharing what Snap is doing to combat illegal behavior, and discussing these issues further,” Snapchat writes.
“We welcome the opportunity to discuss this important topic with the Minister of Justice and explain how we work to protect our platforms and ensure the safety of our users,” writes Google Sweden’s social policy manager Sara Övreby.
“We have no comment at this time, but look forward to working with the Attorney General and sharing how we are currently working on this matter. After that, we will be happy to return to the topic if necessary,” writes Tiktok Nordics.