Ministers in Sweden’s government are considering imposing age limits on social media platforms if tech companies are unable to prevent gangs from recruiting young people online to carry out murders and bombings. A wave of gang crime has led to Sweden recording the most deadly shootings per capita in Europe, a reversal from two decades ago when it had among the lowest.
Police say gangs have begun using social media platforms as “digital marketplaces” to openly recruit anonymous teenagers, in some cases as young as 11, to commit murders and bombings. Since the start of this year, 93 children under the age of 15 in Sweden are suspected of having been involved in planning murders, three times more than in the same period last year.
Representatives from social media companies including TikTok, Meta, Google, and Snapchat have promised to do “everything in their power” to tackle the issue, but Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said it was up to the social media platforms to show “concrete results.”
Australia recently passed a social media ban for children under 16, which is being monitored by Swedish Education Minister Johan Pehrson as a potential measure to consider in Sweden. However, while Pehrson is open to exploring a ban, he also emphasized that the government will “leave no stone unturned” to stop children spending too much time on social media, which he described as a “dark sludge” that is ruining their lives.