According to Swedish Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömer, this step aims to prevent children and young people from being involved in violent acts such as murder and explosions. 24 Channels referring to the publication Vienna.

After his meeting with the justice ministers of the Scandinavian countries, Strömer said:

The situation is very serious. We don’t ignore anything.

Social networks are used to recruit gangs

Swedish police have reported an alarming trend of criminal gangs using social networks such as Instagram and TikTok to recruit young people into illegal activities. Some of these recruits are only 11 years old.

From January to July this year, the number of suspected murders of under-15s in Sweden reached 93; This is three times more than in the same period last year. This increase has made Sweden the European country with the highest murder rate per capita.

The problem goes beyond Sweden. In recent months, Danish police have recorded 32 cases of Swedes recruited to carry out violent attacks in Denmark; This further highlights the cross-border impacts of the problem.

How are companies responding?

Justice Minister Strömer said major technology companies, including Facebook’s parent company Meta, Google’s parent Alphabet and operator Snapchat, were determined to do “everything they can” to solve the problem.

However, Strömer emphasized that if these efforts do not yield satisfactory results, the Swedish government will consider legislative intervention.

Authorities are currently examining regulatory approaches used in other countries to identify measures that might be effective in Sweden.