Social media platforms fuelling knife crime and gang violence says campaigners

Anti-knife-crime campaigners are criticising social media platforms for hosting videos they claim of fuelling knife crime and gang violence.

A quick search shows posts on platforms including Instagram and YouTube which promote weapons including illegal “zombie knives”.

Campaigners say these platforms have also hosted graphic footage of stabbings and violent crime.

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The Ben Kinsella Trust’s CEO Patrick Green said: “We seem to have to push tech companies and social media companies to respond by telling them what they can't do.

 “And rarely do I see them come into the space and try to figure out what the problem is and how to solve it.”

Mr Green criticised social media companies for being absent from discussions he had attended about preventing knife crime, despite social media’s impact on young people.

He said this problem was occurring despite the Online Safety Act being passed last October, which regulates online media.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have banned zombie and cyclone knives and are going further to stop more zombie-style knives and machetes from being used on our streets.

“Once implemented, the Online Safety Act will require tech companies to proactively tackle content which promotes the sale of illegal knives online.”

Ofcom expects the Act’s commitments to take effect at the end of 2024.

Zombie knives are defined as knives possessing a cutting edge, serrated edge, and images or words suggesting it is to be used for violent purposes.

Searches on YouTube and Instagram yields posts and videos in which such weapons are advertised or unboxed, some promoting links to purchase them online.

These posts and videos are primarily older content, and do not depict explicit violence.

However, anti-knife-crime campaigners like Anthony King claim that social media platforms have hosted footage of violent crimes.

King, who is the chair of the My Ends project in Croydon described seeing a video on Snapchat, showing a young person in Croydon being threatened with knives, which he subsequently sent to the Metropolitan Police.

King said: “There needs to be some type of red flag or something that says, ‘Look, at the point of ABC, it needs to be taken down, it shouldn’t be shown’.”

A Snapchat spokesperson said: “Violence and knife crime have devastating consequences,and there is no place for it on Snapchat. If we find this content or if it is reported to us through our confidential in-app tools, we quickly remove it and take appropriate action, including working with police to support investigations. We support the aims of the Online Safety Act to help create a safe online environment and continue to engage constructively with Ofcom on the Act's implementation.”

Tilisha Goupall, whose brother Jermaine was murdered in a stabbing in 2017, also said she had seen footage of her brother’s injuries posted online.

She also recalled seeing a video of someone being stabbed in the neck, and reporting the video to YouTube.

“The first thing that people do is take out their phone as opposed to calling for help,” she said.

“What kind of society are we living in now?”

Regarding these criticisms, a spokesperson for YouTube said: “YouTube has developed policies specifically to help tackle videos related to knife crime in the UK and are continuing to work constructively with experts and law enforcement on this issue. Our Community Guidelines make clear that we don’t want any harmful or dangerous behaviour on YouTube and have strict policies against it. For example, we have strict policies that do not allow the brandishing of a knife in videos. We’re committed to removing any content that violates these policies, which we enforce using a combination of machine learning and human reviewers.”

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, did not respond to a request for comment.

Beyond seeking to make social media accountable for violent content, other charities are promoting healthier alternatives to online connection.

Steel Warriors, a charity which builds steel gyms from the metal of melted-down knives, offers free community sessions at its gyms.

Champion boxer Denzel Bentley recently endorsed this charity, saying it would have benefited him in his youth.

Of the young people who engage with Steel Warriors’ work, Bentley said: “I think it takes their concentration off of the streets and brings it here.”

Steel Warriors’ Head of Marketing and Community Christian d’Ippolito said: “Everything we do is designed to offer hope.”

He gave examples of young people trained with Steel Warriors who had subsequently become Guinness World Record winners and sponsored athletes.

D’Ippolito said social media has failed in not presenting young people with good role models, and not showing them that success always takes time.

He said: “Those are two things I feel like social media can be more accountable for: presenting a reality and not a superficiality.

Likewise, students at Brent’s Ark Academy are calling for more support through school systems and community groups.

In collaboration with creative agency Zeno London, 30 Year 10 students recently launched an anti-knife-crime poster campaign.

Ark Academy’s Vice Principal Stephen O’Carroll noted that there was not a youth zone near the school.

He said: “Where’s the funding for the activities to occupy them with productive activities, with their hobbies and their interests, to stop them just wandering the streets?”

O’Carroll said teachers could only do so much in protecting students online, and that he hoped policymakers would act to keep them safe and provide them with positive opportunities.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Londoners are urged to share any information about knife crime with us via Crimestoppers – any small detail could help make our streets safer and save lives.”